The Village of Chakra
by Killapanda666
Summary: Naruto meets the fox a few days short of his 7th birthday. With her influence Naruto grows to near impossible levels of power and become feared by everyone as the mysterious leader of the Village of Chakra. Naruto x Fem Kyuubi.
1. Meeting the Fox

First fic so be gentle. I own nothing, so you can't sue me. Chapters will vary in length.

Ch.1 Meeting the Fox

On October 5th a small 6 year old boy with blonde hair and three defined whisker marks on both cheeks was curled up into a ball to protect himself from what he knew what was coming. On the days leading up to the festival of the defeat of the great nine tailed demon fox the beatings he received would be at their worst. He didn't know why he got these beatings, although he had some clues it saddened him to no end that everyone in the village, with the exception of the Hokage and the family that owned the ramen stand hated him. When the villagers showed up they ransacked his apartment and beat him to near death. He usually withstood a few minutes of it still awake but it seemed that there were a few more ninja in the mob than usual, and he slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

Naruto woke up in a corridor, resembling a sewer with water dripping from the ceiling into a shallow pool of water that was ankle deep. Having no idea where he was, his mind sat to explore his surroundings. He wondered aimlessly trying to find out where he was when he came into a massive chamber which housed a huge cage. In the middle of the cage was a symbol with the word seal on it.

Naruto isn't stupid, he knows what this is now. He's knows it from the villagers that talk about the fox demon and the things that they say to him make sense now, the things that the Third Hokage told the ANBU when they say something with the word demon in it making things even more clear to him. He now understands why everyone hates him, why everyone tries to kill him and why no one will let their children near him. The nine tailed fox demon is sealed inside of him. He knows this now but he decides to feign ignorance and act as an idiot to throw people off, trying to make them see that he isn't a monster, at least for now.

Naruto walks closer to the gate, but not too close. He sees something with a red aura come closer to the cage. Naruto's assumptions are proven correct when a massive face of a fox came into view.

_**"You have finally come child. Tell me what is you're name?"**_ came a feminine voice from the cage. Naruto looked on gob smacked, the beast of death and destruction itself was being polite, he was at a loss for words. The fox seemed to notice this.

**_"What's wrong child, not what you expected?"_** it asked. Shaking his head out of his shock he stood up.

"I didn't think you would be this polite for a demon lord. I would have thought you would have tried to have my head for being trapped here." Naruto said. A small laugh was heard from the cage.

_**"Child, I am by no means a raving demon lord hell-bent on death and destruction, what transpired 6 years ago was not my doing…or not entirely."**_ The demon explained. Naruto looked skeptical.

"If that's true then what exactly happened? Actually never mind that right now, I'll ask you later. Right now what I want to know is why you sound like a female; the stories make you out to be a male because of everything that you had done." Naruto questioned.

**_"That's very insightful of you. I am female, as you so rightfully found out. Hold on a second ,let me help you a bit, it is hard talking to a 30 stories tall demon isn't it?"_** she asked. The massive figure of a fox blazed red and it changed into a human form. When the red glow receded Naruto could see a beautiful woman with vibrant red hair that ran halfway down her back, a fairly large chest size and what Naruto found that captured his attention the most, her eyes were an exotic blood red with a black slit in the middle. She wore a glittering black kimono with a symbol of a fox on the front. Naruto, regardless of his age couldn't help but get a nosebleed from it, exerting a giggle from the fox woman.

_**"I'm flattered that I can get such a reaction from my container…speaking of which you never did tell me your name."**_ she said. Naruto smacked the back of his head for forgetting his manners.

"Sorry, my name is Naruto, Naruto Uzamaki…what yours?" he asked. She seemed to think about it for a moment, shock that he would ask her such a question clear on her face.

"You're the only one to ever see me…so I guess I could tell you my name. You know my title as Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox but my name is Hitomi, just don't tell anyone." She said. Naruto nodded his head.

"Ok Hitomi I won't tell anyone. Not that it matters much; I'm leaving this village as soon as I can." Naruto told her. Hitomi tilted her head to the side a little bit, intrigued at this little piece of information.

**_"Naruto…child why are you leaving?"_** she asked. Naruto looked at her with a heavy look.

"There is only so much hate a can take. I want to leave this village and go find somewhere that will accept me and not hate me for having you locked up inside me." Naruto explained. Hitomi looked at Naruto for a moment before she gave a sigh.

**_"If you really are going to leave this village then I think it is imperative that you earn how to defend yourself. For that reason I will train you in an ancient form of chakra manipulation. you will find that no one on this planet besides you will have this skill. it is ancient and __extremely _****_ powerful and is my favored skill above all the skills that I possess."_** She told him. Naruto's face adopted an ecstatic expression.

"Really Hitomi? You would do that?" Naruto asked, on the brink of tears.

**_"Yes Naruto really, I'm not like those villagers and ninja in your village, I will stick by you, partly because I have no choice but I really do want to help you."_** she said. Naruto did cry after that, a river of tears hitting the water on the floor.

**_"Ok kit here's what I think you should do, I want you to go to sleep and go to your Hokage and ask for a little bit of money for food, seeing as the villagers most likely stole anything and everything of value from you. Now before I send you off I have a parting gift for you, this will hurt but it will protect you from now on. Fox defense: chakra. Release."_** She said forming a few weird seals with her hands. Next thing Naruto saw was being surrounded by red chakra and he felt it rip into his skin, effectively knocking him out.

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How was it? Good? Bad? Let me know.

This story WILL have a pairing but I'm undecided on who to use. Will NOT be a yaoi! I am not against Homosexuality but the thought of writing it puts a very bad taste in my mouth.

Review!


	2. Explenations & a New Future

Naruto woke up a few hours later, all the wounds he sustained from the villagers attack from last night now completely healed. Naruto thought back to that strange dream that he had with Hitomi.

**_'It was no dream kit, I said that I would be there for you and I intend to keep my word.' _**Hitomi's voice sounded in his head. Naruto fell backwards; completely unprepared for the sudden voice in his head.

'_**Sorry kit I did forget to mention that after I gave you your 'gift' I also developed a type of mind link so that you don't have to keep getting knocked unconscious every time you want to talk to me. As an added bonus for me I get to smell, see and hear everything you can. As a result your senses have been heightened considerably.' **_Hitomi said. Naruto's head was swimming with the information that he was processing. Before he could dwell on it Hitomi reminded him that he needed to see the Hokage. Naruto got dressed in his usual orange jumpsuit but decided on not wearing his jacket.

**_'A plus about using chakra manipulation is that you can create almost anything out of your chakra, weather it be clothes or weapons or anything as long as you know what it looks like. Also if you're able to master it you can use it in place of jutsu and use chakra style moves, this way you can cause great amounts of damage and not use up any chakra at all. Oh and before you go outside remember that if you want to talk to me just think, don't talk out loud or the villagers will get the wrong idea and try attack you.' _**Hitomi advised. Naruto agreed and left to see the Hokage. On his way to the Hokage tower he was met by the entire village populous glaring at him, but he paid it no mind but quickened his pace; if he were to try anything the men in the white masks would show up and make a fuss. Avoiding trouble was a talent of his and he was able to navigate his way through the village streets and alleyways without much trouble. When he got to the tower he went to the Hokage's receptionist.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked not lifting her head from her work to see who it was. Getting a little bit hopeful but not much Naruto spoke up.

"Can I please see the Hokage?" he asked politely. The receptionist looked up from her work to see Naruto. Her smile changed into a scowl so fast that Naruto thought the smile was never there.

"Demon what are you doing here! Get out of here before I call the ANBU." She yelled. Naruto wasn't happy about this, but he didn't let it show, he had learned a long time ago that if he showed weakness the villagers would just feed off it.

"Please, it's important I really need to see him." He begged. The receptionist glared at him harder. Seeing as he wasn't going to be able to get her to let him in, he made a run for the office door behind her. The receptionist went up to him about to hit him when a thick stream of chakra shot out from his tailbone in the form of a tail and grabbed her hand before she was able to touch him. Seeing what just happened the receptionist screamed, immediately summoning the ANBU on duty. The ANBU seeing what was happening quickly went to slice off the red string of chakra from the hysterical woman. Another tail of red chakra intercepted the strike, stopping the advancement instantly.

"Demon let us go before I kill you!" the ANBU threatened, though he was in no position to make threats. In response Naruto's body was engulfed in a blaze of red chakra, all the while Naruto looked on in fascination at what was happening. At this time the Hokage opened his office door to see what all the commotion was about. When he saw the red chakra he was frantic.

"What's going on here!" he yelled. Naruto shook himself out of his trance at what had just happened and explained.

"This lady wouldn't let me in to see you and when she went to hit me this red stuff stopped her. When she screamed this guy tried to attack me and he was stopped the same way. I don't know how it happened… it just did." Naruto said. The Hokage was alarmed at this, the fox's chakra intercepted attempts to harm the boy. He instructed for the two who were trapped to relax and calm down. Although reluctantly, they complied with their leaders request and calmed down. Almost instantly the red chakra withdrew back into Naruto, the tails retracting back to the tail bone. The Hokage dismissed the ANBU and ushered Naruto into his office, giving his receptionist a withering look that said 'clear our your things before I send you to Ibiki' before closing the door behind him.

The Hokage turned to Naruto, motioning towards the chair in front of his desk. Naruto sat down wordlessly. The 3rd Hokage took out his pipe and lit it, taking a long drag of smoke before blowing it out. Naruto could tell that the aged Hokage was unsure of how to approach this because he didn't want to mention the fox's presence inside the boy, thinking that Naruto didn't know about it. Naruto was about to start when Hitomi interjected.

**_'Explain to him what happened last night first in order to tell him how you met me.' _**She advised. Mentally nodding Naruto took in a long breath.

"Old man I was attacked last night." He said. The Hokage was at attention at an instant.

"I was unconscious for most of it, they must have stopped shortly after, believing that I was dead. Before they left my apartment however they destroyed everything that I owned. So I need some money." He told the Hokage. The aged man nodded.

"I'll sort out the money but can you tell me do you know what that red stuff was?" the 3rd asked.

"It was Kyuubi's power. When I was knocked unconscious during the attack I met up with her." Naruto told him. The room became deathly quiet, the only sound coming from the room was the Hokage's pipe hitting the floor with a dull thud.

"She? The fox is female?" the Hokage said quickly but cleared his throat and composed himself. "Err never mind, what did she tell you?" he asked worriedly as he bent down to pick up his pipe. Naruto raised his brow at the village leader.

"She said that she would train me, she said the people in this village won't dare try help me get stronger because of who they think I am." he said. The Hokage looked at him with wide eyes.

"So the Kyuubi talks to you?" he asked quickly, still having a bit of trouble digesting this piece of information. As well as that he as concerned what the fox was telling the boy. Naruto nodded at the Hokage's question.

"She didn't actually say it, from what I can gather if I were to die so would she, so she gave me that thing that you saw outside the door to keep that from happening. It hurt a lot though." He said quietly.

**'**_**I can see that he is concerned with you talking to me. Thinking that I'm trying to warp your mind.'** _Hitomi commented.

"So you're saying that the fox gave you some type of absolute defence?" the Hokage asked. Naruto nodded.

'He is smarter than he lets on.' the Hokage thought.

"Whatever that thing she gave to me, defends me so I guess so." Naruto replied. The Hokage let loose an aggravated sigh.

'This could prove really bad, it might kill people if they're not careful and I don't know how much longer I can protect him if that happens.' The Hokage thought wearily. After he gave Naruto the money he asked for, the Hokage let him leave. The old man called for his most loyal ANBU, they were going to have to keep a closer eye on Naruto from now on, not knowing their masked feelings for the demon container, thinking that they honoured the late 4th Hokage's wish.

Naruto was on his way home to his apartment when a mob of angry villagers surrounded him, seemingly coming out from nowhere. They must have found about his meeting with the old man and set up this ambush.

"Demon scum, today you die!" a villager yelled. There as a loud cheer of approval throughout the mob as they advances on him; however their progress was halted when ANBU appeared in front of them.

"No one will do anything…until we have our fun with _it_." One of the ANBU said making the villagers erupt in cheers.

**_'__Kit we are going to have to step up our plans a bit. I want you to will yourself to dissolve into chakra and get away from the village or there's a very strong chance that you might die, even with your new defense and healing abilities.' _**Hitomi ordered while silently beginning to convert her containers body into chakra to help him. Naruto mentally nodded and visualized to be anywhere but where he was and willed himself out of there. Just as the ANBU were about to strike Naruto's body with their swords, Naruto's body vaporized into blue and red chakra and it dissipated like smoke. Villagers cheered thinking that Naruto had been done away with. Their celebrations were short lived however, when they heard the thunderous voice of the Hokage, who had seen everything through his crystal ball. The only thing going through their minds were the thoughts 'we are so screwed.'. Elsewhere in the village a bandanna wearing Jounin felt a giddy sensation pass over him, Ibiki felt that soon he'd be having a lot of fun soon, of that he was sure but he wasn't sure why.

Naruto rematerialized from the chakra a few miles outside Konoha.

'Hitomi what was that?' he asked. His tenants reply was a little bit shaky, but he couldn't tell what for.

**'**_**It was an experimental chakra technique that teleports a person away by dissolving their body into chakra. There is a chance that the user can lose parts of his body if it's done wrong.'** _She answered. Naruto took a moment to digest this information before his expression turned into one of amusement.

'Then I'll just have to be very careful with who I teach this to, maybe I should put it down as a forbidden technique?' he asked. Hitomi just shrugged and told him to do what he wanted, recovering from whatever it was that had her shaken up. Naruto smirked; things were going to be different from now on. Naruto collected himself and started walking, with only Hitomi, the money that the Hokage had given him and a dream. His dream, to create his own village.

"For once I'm looking forward to my birthday." He said out loud with a smile.

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AN & developments:

As far as chakra manipulation abilities go I know its a little bit whacked but roll with it.

Pairing will be Naruto/Fem Kyuubi by the looks of things.

Ideas on where Naruto should travel to for chapter 3 and 4 are welcome, seeing as I'm having a bit of trouble deciding where he should go.

R&R


	3. Sand Assasination Recruit

I'm not very happy about this chapter but I need to get this story rolling so bear with me. the next chapter will be better.

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Naruto had been walking for about 2 days straight with Hitomi teaching him how to use his chakra. He knew that as long as he was within the borders of Fire country there was a high chance of him being seen and retrieved, and he didn't want that. He was somewhere close to the border from what Hitomi was telling him. He found himself taking to her more, depending on her for a form of companionship, living a life with no friends he was ecstatic at the chance to be friends with her, to generally have her with him.

**_'Naruto stop for a moment.' _**She called out suddenly, making him pause**._ 'I think you should change your appearance, these rags don't suit a future Kage.' _**Naruto nodded, with a smile._ **'Remember how I said you could make things from your chakra? I want you to practice forming object in your mind and moulding chakra into that form. Keep in mind this requires a lot of patience to do it right, you won't get it right the first time. Practice with it now.' **_She instructed.

It took him the better half of a few hours but Naruto was now sporting a new look, he had donned a black cape with a full black face mask with a symbol for chakra in the forehead. His face was hidden within a black hood, concealing his blonde hair from view. Hitomi commented on his choice of clothing.

'**_That look makes you very suspicious and mysterious, a dangerous combination to be sure.' _**She commented. Naruto nodded, a smile sliding onto his masked face.

'Yeah it does… I'd rather be pinned for what I wear over the top them for what I am underneath I can't change that, yet.' He replied. He continued on his way on the path that leads out of Fire country and into Wind country. Having no accurate idea where he was, he asked his traveling partner.

'Where is this path taking us? I figure you know more about the outside of the village then I and I need a place to lie low for a bit. I'm only a kid after all.' he asked.

**_'Wind country is in this direction. There is a hidden village in the area that we're heading. I know someone who loves places like this so I suggest looking for him. I must warn you though, he's a bit insane.' _**She told him. Naruto raised his brow.

'What do you mean?' Naruto asked. he had no problems with meeting new people but hearing what whoever it was, was insane made him edgy, he had met people like that before, he'd rather not again.

**_'Let's just say that Shikaku acts like you did before you left that village, loud and boastful, it was funny because he's the weakest among us tailed beasts.' _**She said with a slight chuckle. Naruto shook his head.

'I should have known.' Naruto walked up the tree and sat on one of its trunks and dozed off.

Back at Konoha the Hokage was informing all jounin ranked ninja about what happened to Naruto, saying that by some miracle he had survived the attempt on his life that the foolish villagers and now ex-ANBU members had participated in.

"Lord Hokage? Are you telling me that that _thing_ is still alive out there?" one of them asked. The Hokage's features grew dark at the remark.

"That _thing_ was wished by the 4th to be viewed as a hero of the Village. He asked the village to view the boy, his own **flesh and blood…his own SON** as a hero…I'm sure that if he were alive today he would kill everyone who laid their hands on him with anything short of respect. Last time I checked I was the only one who did such a thing." The 3rd growled. To say that all the jounin were slack jawed at this revelation was a severe understatement.

"What was just said will not be mentioned outside of this office. If I catch wind of anyone saying anything to anyone that isn't here right now they are to be executed on the spot. Do I make myself clear?" he said his voice calming down yet the seriousness in his voice remained.

"Yes Lord Hokage." All the jounin said in unison, still trying to get over the shock of Naruto being the son of the 4th.

"Now that that is out of the way I can get to the real reason I summoned you all here. Naruto told me before he fled the village that he was receiving training from the fox. Every time one of you goes on a mission outside the village be extremely careful, there is no telling what he is capable of with the fox's training. If you see him try to coax him into coming back. This will be considered an ongoing S class mission. Dismissed." He said, shooing them away with a wave of his hand. All of them filed out of the office, all but one. The 3rd looked at the lone jounin.

"Kakashi take a seat, we have a lot to discuss." The cycloptic scarecrow jounin sat down, his visible eye clouded.

Naruto was a light sleeper; he had to be in order to stay alive in the village, this was no different. Naruto was alerted to _someone_ approaching him in the trees. Naruto manipulated his chakra into a chain and chained the person to the tree he had been standing on. Naruto turned his head to the person lazily.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked. He got no answer from his captive. Naruto sighed.

"Fine, be like that, I'll just leave you there and you can die a slow death." He leaped to a nearby tree when the person spoke up.

"I'm here to offer a business proposition to you. Seeing as you so easily immobilised me without making a single move I can see that I found an exceptional ninja for the job." The man said.

**_'It might be a good idea; this ninja looks to be a jounin from the Sand Village, the one we're going to. We need a cover story in case we're asked what we're doing there if we get found.' _**Hitomi piped in Naruto turned to the bound man.

"It's a simple assassination. All you have to do is eliminate the target and the Kazekage will reward you greatly." He explained.

"Who is it?" he asked. He had no problem killing people, he had 7 years of frustration to vent and this was an excellent opportunity.

"There is a boy with red hair and rings around his eyes in a park in Sand. We're asking people from outside the village to do it because he's already killed a great number of our ninja." He told Naruto. Naruto nodded, dissolved into red and blue chakra that swirled around the other as it disappeared toward the Sand Village.

"Ha, like a double helix." Then he realised that he was still bound to the trees. A loud string of cussing was heard from all the way to the Sand Village.

Naruto rematerialized from the chakra in the area that was described to him. It had been lucky he had Hitomi guide him, otherwise he would have gotten lost, although how she knew her way around was a mystery to him.

**_'It was a good thing that that guy took you for an actual ninja, your new outfit does you credit, he didn't even ask who you were but took you at face value because of your appearance. That is a fundamental part of this world Naruto, deception is key.' _**Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Naruto observed the area around him. They found a group of kids playing with a ball at a park. The ball got longed into a tree out of reach of all of the kids. The boy that Naruto was told about had used sand to dislodge the ball from the branches. When he offered the ball back to the other kids they screamed and ran off. Naruto didn't know what to make of this, however Hitomi had realized what had happened.

**_'Kit that boy has the power of Shukaku. That racoon dog must be contained within the boy and from the looks of things he's very unstable. That is who I was talking about before, you should befriend this boy, he could help you and you him. I know that you were told to eliminate this kid but I think it would be better to let him come with us, from hat we just saw he is feared to the point where the Kage of this village is hiring outside ninja to kill him.' _**Naruto nodded at Hitomi's wise words. He walked up to the boy who had a miserable expression on his face.

"Hey kid what's your name?" he asked. The boy was startled at his voice and sand shot out at Naruto. Red chakra surrounded Naruto, three tails of chakra sprung from his backside battering the sand away. The red head looked frightened, obviously he hadn't been expected that to happen.

"Come on kid I'm not going to hurt you, what's your name?" he asked again. The red head was reluctant but took his time, still scared out of his mind. No one had ever gotten through the sands attempts to attack them.

"Gaara, my name is Gaara." He said, his voice quivering with fear.

"It's nice to meet you Gaara, my name is Naruto." He introduced himself. Gaara had obviously gained a little bit of confidence because he stood up straighter as he nodded, and Naruto mused that it was the first time people hadn't run away from him or acted in a friendly matter towards him without fear.

"Gaara why is it that people are scared of you?" Naruto asked. Even though he knew the answer he wanted to see if Gaara knew of Shukaku's presence within his body. Gaara immediately seized up, the sand on the ground jumping up around him, proving his agitated state.

"It's the sand; people can't get close to me in fear that the sand will devour them. The sand talks to me, tells me things… tries to make me do things…wants me to kill people." he said, his voice becoming more of a whisper as he went.

**_'Kit tell him to go to sleep so that coward will come out. I will need to talk to him but I need control of your body or a moment. I can't stay in control for very long because of the seal so best make this a quick talk... Maybe you should knock him out instead, but do it subtlety; if he knows you did it he won't trust you at all.' _**Naruto looked a little bit worried but complied with her request. He sent a rush of chakra at Gaara, bypassing Gaara's sand defence and smacking Gaara in the head. Gaara's body went limp and sand started whirling around him, forming a warped figure. Eventually Gaara's whole body was consumed by sand and it started to grow in size. Hitomi, who had control of Naruto's body, had engulfed the body in her demon chakra and surrounded Gaara's possessed body with it, stopping its growth.

**_"Shukaku stop this at once! Don't make me have to pull out your tail. I, the Nine Tails, demand you stop this instant!" _**The sand form of Gaara stared in fear at Hitomi; Naruto's eyes a crimson blood red as a result of her chakra. The Gaara possessed figure stood stock still, the star pupil shrinking in fear.

**_"Kyuubi! What the hell are you doing here?" _**he yelped in surprise and fright. Hitomi glowered at him.

**_"I'm here for your container. I and my container recognise that because of you, your container will soon loose whatever humanity he's got before he becomes a psychopath bent on killing others for a living! That is unless you stop your attempts of trying to get free when he falls asleep. You will stop trying to control this boy and escape, do I make myself clear?" _**The seriousness of her voice was so intense that it made Shikaku flinch. The sand demon nodded rapidly.

**_"I won't ever possess his body again unless he's in danger of dying. I swear on my tail." _**He said quickly. Kyuubi nodded and withdrew her chakra, returning to her cage and giving Naruto control of his body. Gaara, who was no longer being possessed by his demon was going through a similar change, his transformed body turning back to normal, the sand dropping to the ground. Gaara looked at Naruto with wide eyes.

"What did you do? I don't feel the presence of the sand talking to me, telling me things." Gaara said in disbelief. Naruto smiled a small smile.

"You don't have to live in fear of being controlled again. The demon has been _dealt_ _with_ in a way. However I want to test something." He summoned a rock from the ground with a bit of chakra and tossed it at Gaara. Like last time sand intercepted the rock, batting it away harmlessly. Naruto nodded, and then his face morphed into a serious expression.

"Gaara I won't lie to you, a ninja from this village asked me to kill you." Gaara edged away quickly but Naruto put up his hand asking him to stop. "I, however, changed my mind after seeing _why_ they asked me to. You will never be liked here, always be feared for the sand that protects you. I want you to consider coming with me, travelling the world and eventually creating a village where people like us aren't hated and feared. Think about it, I'll be here tomorrow waiting for your answer, now go enjoy your freedom, I'm sure you have a lot of sleep to catch up on." Naruto said with a warm smile. Gaara didn't need to be told twice and left for home, elated at the chance to get some sleep.

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AN: As always R&R

corrections welcome and any ideas you have that I can use will help this story along are very much appreciated.

Naruto's new look is similar to Darth Revan's of Star Wars Kights of the Old Republic, thought it would make for a good change.

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AN2: After a rather nasty review given to this chapter it has been threaded through for corrections. I hope this is better.


	4. A Student and His Teacher

AN: Updated Authors note at the end.

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Naruto, true to his word was there the next morning, sitting in a meditative stance while floating several inches off the ground, a blue hue surrounding his body, his face scrunched up in concentration under his mask.

"Gaara, you came, good. What did you decide?" Naruto asked one eye cracked open as he floated above the ground. Naruto noted that he had a pack on his back. Gaara seemed to hesitate in his answer.

"Where are we going?" he asked. Naruto set his feet on the ground and stood up.

"First off we're getting out of this village, there nothing here to do or anything of importance here to get." He was about to use his double helix travelling technique when Hitomi stopped him.

**_'_**_**Kit, his body won't be able to travel with you with that technique. You're fairly adept at chakra manipulation but this boy is not, you have to go on foot, no matter how inconvenient it is.' **_Naruto nodded his head, although reluctantly.

"There's been a slight change of plans; we're going to have to go on foot seeing as you're not capable of traveling with me yet. When we get out of here I promise I'll train you to be able to as well. Now since you've lived in this village could you lead the way out of here?" he asked. Gaara was about to start walking when sand sprang from the ground to deflect some incoming projectiles, Naruto's red chakra doing the same. Naruto glared at the place where the thrown shuriken had come from.

"What are you doing here? You're not authorized to be here!" on of the ninja shouted. Naruto turned his masked face to the sand ninja.

"That's ok; we were just leaving, come on Gaara." The red haired boy went behind Naruto and they walked a couple of steps when the sand ninja advanced on them.

"You're associating with that monster?" said the leader, giving a silent order to surround both demon containers.

"Let me leave with Gaara in peace, I don't want to have to kill you. I'm taking him away from your village, isn't that enough?" Naruto asked calmly, unnerving some of the sand ninja. The leader however wasn't fazed.

"You snot nosed brat, I was going to let you live but you just changed my mind. Kill them both!" he ordered. Naruto smirked under his mask and tapped into all of the sand ninja's chakra pool and grasped them like Hitomi had said to, causing all the sand ninja to stop in their tracks. Naruto let out a loose chuckle.

"If any of you move I'll squeeze and you'll experience a world of pain like no other, unless you let us go willingly." Naruto said, giving their chakra pools a slight squeeze.

"Who are you?" the leader squealed in fright. Naruto laughed hard at this.

"I'm the Chakra Demon." Naruto said plainly. Hitomi giggled.

**_'_**_**Nice name kit, if I don't say so myself.'** _

'Thanks…I got the idea from you.' Naruto replied. One sand ninja made a move to his kunai pouch. As he touched it he let out a bloodcurdling scream and his body fell limp, his body falling like a dead-weight. The man's comrades looked on in horror. Naruto saw this and smiled a sinister smile at what that technique had done. The Sand ninja ran away as fast as they could.

_**'Kit, I sense a great number of chakra signatures at the gate, they're trying to ambush us.' **_Hitomi informed her jailer. Naruto smiled at the development.

"Gaara when we get to the exit I want you to watch closely at what I do. I'm going to teach you how to do these things." Naruto advised his new companion. Gaara nodded. They proceeded to the village exit Naruto using his stealth abilities he developed back in Leaf to avoid being detected, instructing Gaara to mimic his movements as to minimize the chances of being seen. They arrived at the gate and sure enough there were a great number of ninja blocking their way.

Naruto surveyed the group from where Gaara and he were hiding.

'From the looks of things they're chunin, jounin and ANBU.' Naruto thought. They walked slowly to the gate and the mob of ninja. He walked up to the mob and stood there, he wanted to test out something else.

"Hey I recognise you from the team of ninja that attacked us just a few moments ago. If you were smart you would have kept running and quit as a shinobi, you'll be joining your friend in a moment." Naruto's body dispersed into chakra and flew at the group of ninja in the form of the double helix. However when the Helix hit the ninja instead of just passing through them it drilled into their bodies. Within seconds the mob of 30 plus ninja dropped to the ground, dead. Naruto materialised from the chakra, close to Gaara scaring the red haired boy.

"The paths clear, we can go now." He said. Naruto walked to the gate and looked back at Gaara, who was quivering at what he saw Naruto do.

"Gaara, our lives will be like this for quite some time. There will be people who fear us and those that respect us as well as people like these villagers who hate us. We can't run from it, we must tackle it head on if we want to survive. If push comes to shove we will have to fight back and if we must…kill them. Come on lets get out of here before more ninja show up." Gaara nodded slowly and both demon containers ran out of the Hidden Village of Sand.

Naruto and Gaara were several miles out of the village when Naruto signalled them to pull over. They had gotten out of the desert and found themselves on the edge of a thick forest. They took a quick stop at the base of a large tree. Naruto needed to tell Gaara about the demon inside of him. If the red haired boy was going to be traveling with him he felt it only fair that he know what dwelled inside of him.

"Gaara there are things that I neglected to mention to you within the village. You and I are very similar to each other; both our villagers hate us for the same reason. You remember when you told me about the voice in your head?" Naruto asked. Gaara nodded slowly.

"There are nine tailed demon lords. The first demon lord has one tail, his name is Shukaku, and he's a sand racoon." Naruto said. Gaara stared at Naruto as if he were crazy.

"He's also the most insane out of all nine of the tailed beasts, raving on blood and killing people. He was sealed into a boy. That boy is you Gaara." Naruto said, observing Gaara's reaction. Naruto would have laughed if it the situation wasn't serious.

"If there are nine demon lords in all then how are we similar? Why did your village hate you?" Gaara asked..

"Sealed inside of me is the nine tailed fox. My home village hated, shunned and was scared of me, thinking I was the great demon reborn after it was defeated by the 4th Hokage. Just a few days ago I ran away from the Hidden Village of the Leaf with my closest ever friend, the nine tailed fox, Hitomi."

**_'__I thought I said you couldn't tell anyone what my name was!' _**Hitomi growled. Naruto adopted an irritated look.

'Keep your pants on. It's not like Gaara wouldn't have found out, Shukaku would have told him if I didn't.' Naruto missed the slight blush on Hitomi's elegant features.

"You said nine so that would mean that there are 7 demons left right?" Gaara asked. Naruto nodded.

"We'll be looking for them and their containers if they've been sealed away. Question is where we go to look for such creatures?" Naruto asked.

**_'__It might be a good idea to look for the next demon up from the stupid racoon. They might not be able to defend themselves depending on their opponent. Nibi was always an extremely arrogant and stubborn cat, we should look for her first.' _**Kyuubi suggested. Naruto smirked.

'You mean to tell me you were never stubborn or arrogant?' he asked with a chuckle. This exerted a growl from his house guest, which Naruto happily ignored.

"Come on Gaara, we have a lot of ground to cover. On our way I'll teach you the basics of chakra manipulation. Once you know the basics all you need to do is master it you can do anything with your chakra. My outfit for example is composed completely of my chakra. I never have to go shopping for any clothing or equipment because I can make it with my chakra." Naruto explained.

" So where are we going?" Gaara asked as they began to walk down the path.

_**'We should probably go through Rain, Grass and Waterfall as so we can bypass having to go near Konoha. On our way to Cloud we might encounter the other tailed beasts; I just hope that we won't run into that weasel before we find Nibi. She might be 4 tails his inferior but she scares the shit out of him, she mellows him out, making him easier to talk with. Although I could beat him up a bit but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.' **_She said with a giggle. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Where going through Rain, Grass and Waterfall territory to get to the Cloud village. We're going to find the other people like us as I said before." Naruto answered. Gaara looked at him strangely but didn't say anything.

The Kazekage looed at the bloody mass of dead shinobi at the entrance to his village. A shinobi with a mask adorned on his face appeared beside the Sand Kage. The Kazekage turned to the ninja.

"Where is that useless boy?" he growled. The masked ninja cringed at the tone of his leader's voice.

"It appears that he has disappeared. He's nowhere in Sand anymore Lord Kazekage." The nin answered shakily. The Kazekage growled in annoyance.

"Find Temari and Kankuro and send them to my office, also find Baki and get him to come to my office in 2 hours." The Kazekage ordered. The sand nin disappeared in a swirl of sand.

"What could have killed my ninja like this…it appears as if they were all killed with one jutsu. Damn it, this village is weak, no matter what I do…it's always weak" he grumbled. He disappeared into his office to meet the faces of his children minus one.

"You wanted to see us Lord Kazekage?" a blonde girl with four pony tails asked.

"Your brother has disappeared from Sand. You two will go with a jounin to find him. You will be going to see our allies in fire country to see if he has passed through there. You will search for him until the end of the year so that gives you a total of 2 ½ months to look for him. He is very important to this village and must be reaquired. Think of this as early mission experience before you become shinobi." He said. The two kids nodded and accepted their task before quickly leaving the office to leave the Kazekage with his thoughts.

Naruto and Gaara had been travelling towards Rain for a few hours.

"Naruto!" Gaara called. Naruto stopped and looked back at Gaara, who was trailing him by a good few meters. Gaara's face was red and sweaty.

**_'_**_**You might want to consider slowing down just a little bit or even stopping. He looks like he's about to pass out.' **_Hitomi advised. Naruto smiled slightly even though he knew Gaara wasn't used to walking so much he was giving it all he had to keep up with him.

"You're not used to the traveling life yet, you will be just give it a couple of days and you'll feel less tired. While we rest I can teach you the basics to manipulation of chakra. this is something i wish for the village i wish to create take up as a basic taijutsu style." Naruto said as he sat on a tree trunk

"You know what chakra is don't you?" Naruto asked. He explained and demonstrated how to do it. Gaara picked up surprisingly quickly and Naruto praised him for his progress. They were about to set out again when Naruto's heighten sense of smell caught the scent of someone who had been watching his teaching Gaara of chakra manipulation. Naruto's body dissolved into wisps of chakra shocking Gaara and the onlooker. Said onlooker found himself bound to a tree seconds later.

"Enjoying yourself?" Naruto sneered. Naruto noted that the watcher was a Rain nin, so he was probably on boarder patrol. The rain nin struggled with his bonds, attempting to flea the area but to no avail.

"You're a ninja? You don't look like much…but I know from experience that appearances can be misleading. Chakra rupture." Naruto's hand glowed a faint red and rammed it into the Rain nin's shoulder exerting a holler of pain.

"I didn't say that I was going to teach _you _now did I? Heh no matter, you can be my new guinea pig for a new technique. Chakra style: memory wipe." Naruto's finger glowed a faint white and he touched the rain nin on the forehead. Thr Rain nin's body went limp.

"Bugger, I guess it was too much power, his minds gone blank, literally." Naruto said surprised.

_**'Maybe you can use that to your advantage. If you fight someone who has good skill and power you could reprogram them into ninja loyal to you alone.' **_Hitomi voiced. Naruto considered it.

'What would I ever do without you?' he said with a smile.

**'_You would die. If there was any way for me to be removed from your body the extraction of chakra from your body would kill you because you are linked with me your body runs on less than half a percent of my chakra, constantly. If I were to leave you completely not even I wouldn't survive the separation.' _**Hitomi told him. Naruto was astounded, he never knew that.

"So that means that we're going to be together for the rest of our natural life?' he asked.

**'_No kit, not natural life. You will live far longer than you ever could without me. The older you get the more traits you will develop from me, the more traits you inherit the longer you live.' _**Hitomi told the awestruck boy. Naruto shouldered the nin and went back down to where Gaara was. Gaara gave a questioning look at the Rain nin.

"This guy is going to be your practice dummy for your manipulation skills. Don't worry about him though, he's brain dead." Naruto ordered the Rain nin to stand still and not move. Gaara did as he was told and started practicing.

With Naruto's guidance Gaara grew skilled in the art of manipulating his chakra.

"Good job Gaara, you've mastered the first stages of the skill. However to use these abilities properly you need large reserves of chakra, the more chakra you have at your disposal the more damage you can inflict. For this purpose I've developed a sealing technique. It's really simple, all it does is stores all your excess chakra while your body creates chakra to replace it. This helps when you're in a hard spot with dwindling chakra stores." Naruto explained. Gaara accepted the seal and slumped down to the ground, his body not used to having its chakra sapped like that. Naruto moulded chakra into a ball and bore a hole in a massive tree. Satisfied with the make shift shelter Naruto set Gaara down inside it. Naruto sat around the entrance of the tree/cave a bit before and left, instructing the Rain nin to guard the area.

'Hitomi what's wrong? You seem distressed about something.' Naruto asked. Hitomi had been agitated about something and Naruto wanted to know what.

**'_I sensed one like me in the not to far off area. I wouldn't be bothered by this except that dog is frightened of something. It takes something of immense power to scare us tailed beasts. We have to investigate, we have to find out what's scaring Gobi, even though I don't like him very much.' _**Naruto didn't miss her muttering the words 'dam pervert'. Naruto vaporised into chakra and headed toward where Hitomi said she felt Gobi, the five tailed dog's presence.

Naruto materialized in the air, using his chakra to grasp the particles in the air so he looked like he was flying. Naruto was greeted by the sight of a giant sized dog with five tails swinging madly in an intended direction. Naruto 'flew' for a closer look to find that a man was evading Gobi's tails. He also noted two others were standing idly by as this was happening.

**'_Kit this is bad, from the looks of things Gobi's running out of energy. Immobilize that disgrace of a human, and watch out for the watching one.' _**Hitomi ordered. Hearing her in this state of alarm, Naruto acted immediately. Not wanting to play around Naruto proceeded with one of his sealess jutsu.

"Chakra style: great explosion." Naruto called. The ninja that was playing jump rope with Gobi's tails blew up, sending wooden debris everywhere. One of the two figures that had been watching had Body Flickered to where Naruto was and went to hit him. A tail of red chakra ensnared the mysterious ninja's arm.

"You destroyed my puppet!" he yelled.

"A puppet user? Isn't that interesting…who are you and what do you want with Gobi?" Naruto asked calmly. The puppet user smirked but the red tail of chakra gripped his arm tighter making his smirk turn into an angry scowl, yet didn't say anything.

"Do you know how it feels to blow up from the inside?" Naruto asked. The ninja, who Naruto saw wore a scratched Sand Ninja headband gave him a look that answer his question, no.

"Thought so. Here's what were going to do. We're going to play a game of 20 questions, you answer what I want to know or you lose a limb. Although that really only makes this a game of 14 questions, or however much pain I decide to put you through." While Naruto was talking the missing nin was trying in vain to dislodge his arm from the grip of the red chakra.

"Question one. Who are you?" Naruto asked, his masked face scaring the captured nin. The said nin looked around him; he found that Gobi had vanished as had his partner. He felt the grip of the red chakra rip off his hand. He screamed and shakily turned his gaze to Naruto's masked face.

"Sasori, my name is Sasori of the red sand." He whimpered.

"Question two. What did you want with Gobi?" Naruto asked his voice devoid of emotion.

"Go to hel-AHHHHH" Naruto increased the pressure to his captor's arm, his arm blowing off at the elbow. "Akatsuki! I was going to capture the demon for the organisation Akatsuki." Sasori said quickly.

"3. What is this organisation?" Sasori was very pale; possibly because he was missing about half of one of his arms. Naruto growled, making Sasori tremble in fright.

"Akatsuki plans to capture all the legendary tailed beasts." he yelped.

"4. How many do you have?" Naruto's voice promised great pain if he didn't answer.

"We've only just gone out on our assignments in two man teams. We haven't captured any that I know of."

"5. How many members?" Sasori hesitated and for that Naruto blew up the remainder of his arm.

"9! 9 members are in Akatsuki. An Uchiha just joined us." Naruto was intrigued by this.

"6. Who is his target?" Naruto asked. Sasori hesitated again, making Naruto blow up his entire other arm exerting a scream of pain from the missing nin.

"The nine tails! He was assigned to capture the nine tails." Naruto chuckled manically at this.

"7. Which Uchiha?" he growled. he would know who the Uchiha was but it was always good to know the name of your enemies.

"IT'S ITACHI!" Sasori screamed frightened out of his mind.

"Thank you very much. You're lucky…it was a game of 7 questions, I think I'll let you live, without arms your not much of a threat." Naruto said happily before his red chakra receded into his body. Sasori, unprepared for the release plummeted from the air sailing to the ground. Naruto stayed in the air digesting this new information.

"Itachi Uchiha huh? This will prove to be very interesting. Now where is that dog?"

**'_Follow your nose kit.' _**Hitomi said. Naruto followed her advice. Naruto found himself in the forest where he left Gaara and his human puppet. Gobi's scent was coming from Gaara's location.

**'_Oh crap…I should have seen this coming. Some of us tailed beasts didn't get along well with each other. Two of which were Shukaku and Gobi, as for the reason I have no idea, but you might want to stop Gobi before he does something bad to Shukaku's vessel.' _**Hitomi warned. Naruto leapt in Gaara's direction, using his Double Helix technique to boar through the tree's to hasten his arrival.

Gobi had shape shifted his size to the size of a tiger. His nose smelling out the racoon's scent. He was about to charge at his prey when he was slammed into the opposite tree of the clearing he was in. Naruto materialized from the Helix.

"Gobi stop it." Naruto ordered before dropping into a fighting stance.

* * *

AN: that took longer than I thought it would.

i realize that sum of this seemed a bit out of wack but things will be like this for a bit. it will be like this before it gets better. Tell me wat u think.

chapters will get longer, however with longer chapters mean longer update waits because of the writing editing.

Due to my minimal understanding of the japanese language I'm asking you guys to think of a kage name and a ...suitable... village location because I can't.

Pairing votes so far:

Naruto x Hinata- 1

Naruto x Kyuubi- 3

Voting is important people. the girl chosen will shape how this fic turns out so chose wisely, there will be only one girl.

Review please. Reviews are the only thing to help me excel at writing this story, that and any idea's you guys might have would help me a lot with future chapters.

Reviews are the only source of modivation I have so you better give some feedback.


	5. Red Rain

here's the next chapter, enjoy!

* * *

Gobi snarled angrily at Naruto and advanced on the masked boy. 

**'_Kit I know a way to deal with this, do these steps in order. This will work, trust me.'_ **Hitomi said as she began to feed steps of her plan to her host. Naruto began to draw chakra to the chakra points in his hand, expelling it and compressing it into a small ball. Gobi lunged at Naruto, his five tails wiping madly behind him. In his hand Naruto began to spin the chakra he had in his hand. The giant trees around them began to rustle and sway. Gobi had slowed down his charge, transfixed on the chakra in Naruto's hand. The ball of chakra flashed red with a mix of Hitomi's chakra. Seconds later the rustling stopped and Naruto floated the ball above his hand. Gobi was now siting in front of Naruto, his tails laying flat in the ground, no longer smashing into everything and everything behind them. Bringing the ball over his shoulder he threw it forward, right over Gobi's head.

"Fetch." Naruto ordered the dog demon. Immediately Gobi threw itself at the ball of chakra, having completely forgotten about Shukaku. Naruto smirked under his mask.

**'_I told you it would work, didn't I kit? A demon he may be but he's still a dog.' _**Hitomi said smugly. Naruto groaned.

'I should have known you'd come up with such a childish way of dealing with Gobi. You're such a fox.' Naruto muttered in his head.

**'_I don't know weather to be irritated or flattered by that comment.' _**She replied. Naruto just smiled and turned back to his puppet and Gaara who was still in the tree.

"I trust there were no problems while I was gone?" Naruto said to his brain dead puppet of a Rain nin. The Rain nin shook his head no. Naruto nodded and turned to Gaara. Naruto condensed the air around him into his palm using chakra, turning it into water. With a smirk he threw it at Gaara. said boy woke up with a start.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he cried out. Gaara looked around to assess where he was. From what he could tell he was in some sort of small cave, but it had a forest smell to it.

"Good evening Gaara. How do you feel?" Naruto asked. Gaara opened his mouth to answer but closed it again. He stayed silent for a moment before he answered.

"I feel…powerful…and drained." The red head boy looked around him and saw the Rain nin from before and a massive dog playing with a ball. He turned his head to Naruto, a questioning look on his face.

"Some things happened while you were unconscious. I'm sure that Shukaku is informing you on who that is. This is not a good sign, we have to pick up the pace and get to Cloud as quickly as possible. If we manage to cross another tailed beast while going to Cloud we'll ask it to come with us. Safety in numbers is our safest option at the present time. I'll fill you in on the way." He said. Naruto turned to Gobi and cancelled the chakra that Gobi was playing with. Gobi looked startled for a moment before his gaze met Naruto's masked one. The dog demon rose from his crouched position, his tails flying madly behind him, dealing light damage to his surroundings. Naruto flared Hitomi's chakra around his body, the blazing chakra enveloping him in a red glow. The five tailed demon was no stranger to this chakra and he knew that if he wanted to live his next few choices would be critical.

**'_Kit let me speak to him. Without him being sealed into a human he will never be able to understand human speak, only read the emotions and the body language of others.' _**informed Hitomi. Naruto mentally nodded and let his tenant take control of his body. The chakra surrounding Naruto became more defined and took the shape of a fox, nine tails swishing behind him lazily. Naruto opened his eyes, his normal ocean blue changed to a blood red with a slit for a pupil. With his eyes the only noticeable feature on his face Naruto looked quite menacing, having his eyes change colour while leaking Hitomi's chakra was enough to scare the dog demon in front of him, his whole body went rigid.

**"_Gobi, those people you met earlier are dangerous, they are searching for us, the tailed beasts. I want you to come with us; we are safer from those people who call themselves the Akatsuki in large numbers. I'm not telling you what to do but for your own safety I suggest you come with us." _**Hitomi said. Gobi gave a few barks and growls in response.

**"**_**We're going to find the weakest among us. Having you come with us eliminates the task of finding you later. My vessel will be choosing a place where we can hide safely, a hidden ninja village which does not fear us but respect us."** _Hitomi explained. A bark a few seconds later was his answer.

**'_Kit he says that for his own sake he will accompany us. His sense of smell is far better than mine so he will be able to sniff them out better than I can.' _**Hitomi said to Naruto. Naruto mentally nodded.

'Hitomi one last thing; tell him to drop all hostilities with Gaara and explain to him the concept of a demon being sealed into a human. One he understands that we can precede.' Naruto asked. She did as she was asked and relayed the message to Gobi. He snarled at Gaara but didn't do anything more. As Hitomi relinquished control of Naruto's body back to Naruto he went immediately on the defensive, Gaara and Gobi doing the same.

"A Rain border patrol most definitely felt the bursts of chakra that we released earlier." Naruto informed his companions. "They will be on us in half a minute so be calm and don't panic. They will most likely take us to the village, which is where we want to go." They stood on guard as the approaching ninja drew closer.

A team of Rain nin were headed towards where they felt the explosion of chakra. They were all a little bit livid at the thought of who or _what_ could have produced such massive amounts of chakra but their Kage had given strict instruction that he wanted to get as much of an explanation as humanly possible, anything _that_ powerful would be able to lay waste to even the most powerful shinobi nations. The team had their doubts but chose to keep quiet, bad things tended to happen when people chose to question orders from their Kage. One person unfortunately had said that going after something that powerful was suicide and that it was madness to go after such a thing. Suffice to say that the ninja in question never saw another sunrise. The nin shook his head to clear his thoughts of that incident moments ago, whatever it was that unleashed that power one thing was for sure, he would die if his mind wasn't focused. The Rain nin reached their intended destination and they were greeted by the sight of 3 people and a dog…with 5 tails. Schooling his face into a neutral mask he addressed them.

"State your name and your purpose for being here, you are trespassing in Rain Territory." The Rain nin caught sight of the forehead protector of one of them, it had a Rain symbol on it. The masked person of the group saw what he was looking at and cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"This kind man here is escorting us to the village, we have business with your Kage." He said. The Rain nin noted from the voice that the masked one was fairly young, which sent a chill down his spine. If this kid was able to dish out power like that at such a young age, Kami knows how strong he'll be when he gets older.

"Very well, follow us. Our leader would like to ask you a few questions." The masked one of the four nodded and they left for the village.

The Amekage had his hat hung low over his face, his chin resting on his hands. Rain was such a small country and he had little numbers to protect it with should any of the other country decide to invade. They would put up a good fight but their military might just wasn't that of the other villagers, hell even Grass could defeat them if they chose to attack. He was hoping that this traveller turned out to be a shinobi. The Amekage frowned, other villagers had trump cards, some even had demon containers he was told. Cloud, Sand and Waterfall had one each and even Leaf had 1 and one was enough to cripple an enemy's army to nothing but ash. A gentle knock on his office door brought him out of his thoughts. His secretary poked her head in the door.

"Lord Amekage sir the shinobi you sent to scope out the explosion sight has returned, they have four others with them." She said. He ordered her to bring them to his office immediately. He wondered who exactly his ninja had found at the sight, missing nin? He shook that possibility out of his head. Missing nin would have attacked and would not willingly be led to be questioned by him. The door opened again and a team of Rain nin walked in flanking 3 small people and a dog…with five tails! He schooled his face into a neutral expression as soon as he realised what was in front of him. There was a tailed beast in front of him. The masked one of the three strangers calmly took a seat, motioning for his companions to follow suit. When the tallest one sat down the Amekage realised that the tall one was one of his ninja.

"Although we're aren't in a hurry we need to be going soon, we have places to be and people to find. We just need a few questions answered and we'll be leaving this small speck of land you call a country." The mask one spoke up, getting the Amekage's attention.

'He's only a kid!' was the Amekage's only thought as he heard the mask wearer speak. He went to his desk and sat down on his chair. The masked kid motioned his hand towards the shinobi that were sent to get him; obviously he wanted them out of the room. He waved them off and they left the room. When the door was closed the masked one spoke again.

"Now we can get down to business."

"Yes, you said that you had questions that you need answered? In exchange for these answers a want some answers of my own." He replied. The mask wearer just shrugged.

"Excellent, what answer is t you seek? I will do my best to answer you." He older man said to the younger.

"Do you have a demon container in your possession at the moment?" he the mask wearer asked. The Amekage choked on his spit. He wasn't expecting any sort of heavy handed questions from this boy; he was wrong in assuming so. Recovering him his shock the Amekage answered.

"No I don't but if I did woo, life would be all the sweeter and a lot easier. I don't know how you know about them but I have to say that you've come to the wrong village if you're looking for 1. Why are you looking for 1?" He asked.

"Don't let my size fool you sir, there is a good reason I'm searching for them. There isn't much that anyone can do to stop me from doing it anyway so it doesn't matter. In the coming years I will make sure that none of them are turned into weapons of treated like a spawn of the devil." The boy spat. The Amekage raised his brow at him.

"Why, I mean that's all they really are good for isn't it? They are there to control the demon powers they possess." he half asked half joked. His comment however was met with hostility, the dog that was sitting next to the masked boy shot up from his position, trying to tear the village leader apart. Or it would be if the masked boy hadn't held it back, with what the Kage couldn't tell. The Rain leader stared in shock and horror as its five tails flew towards him, had he been anyone but a Kage he would be dead. The masked boy stood up immediately after, grabbing the centre tail of the dog trying to maul him.

"Gobi knock it off, we don't have time for this. It seems we've overstayed our welcome, let's go." He gave the dog centre tail a quick yank, exerting a whimper from the wolf size dog. All three people who were seated stood up and went for the door but were cut off when the Amekage summoned guards to block their path.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Its not often a tailed beast comes waltzing into my village. I'll be taking it off your hands f you don't mind." Said the rain leader; his voice leaving no room for argument.

"Boys it seems that they've blocked off the exit, lets make a new one." He said extending his arm with his hand outstretched. It flashed blue and the wall in front of him blew forward like a freak wind had come in and blown it off. The red head turned his head to the rain shinobi and spoke for the first time.

"I'd advise you not to come after us. There is no telling what my leader will do if you follow." The masked and the red headed boy and Gobi vanished in a blue vapour out the hole in the wall. A split second after, the Amekage ordered all the shinobi in the area after the demon dog but were unprepared for the shinobi tat accompanied the masked boy to explode, raking with him a few of the men close to him.

In the streets of the village of rain a mini tornado picked up depositing three bodies which landed on their feet.

"Looks like its going to be a lot harder to get out of here than I thought. I didn't think he would be that stupid but he proved me wrong. I smell ninja coming toward us, we have to hurry if we want to refrain from hurting anyone, yet if worst comes to worst I will make an example of those that go against me when it comes to people like us." He said. Naruto turned a corner and red chakra leapt off his body incinerating a shuriken aimed at him. He looked beside him to see Gaara with a wall of sand erected in front of him, kunai and shuriken embedded in them. On his other side Naruto noticed Gobi was snarling at some Rain civilians, his gaze lit up with killer intent. Naruto was entranced at what he saw; Gobi had killed someone with nothing less than a look.

**'_Why don't you try it kit, I'm not sure just how wide your chakra can expand or how many people you can ensnare in a mass murder technique I want to teach you, so you need everything can think of to get out of this alive. Once I'm done making the proper altercations to your body from in here you won't need to worry about something like that. Now back to the present situation, to do that Stare of Death technique all you have to do is apply so much killing intent solely to your eyes that those stupid enough to look will die of fright. It's extremely effective when your low on chakra, but soon you won't have to worry about that. Now get out of this small cesspool of a village.' _**Hitomi said. Naruto heard her lay herself on the ground of her cell and go to sleep. A thought came to him, he needed to change her accommodation, a cell simply wasn't going to do. Naruto was snapped out of his reverie by Gobi nudging his leg with his head. Naruto looked around him; he noticed that Gobi Gaara and himself were surrounded by the native village's shinobi. He cursed inwardly.

'I wish I knew that mass killing technique Hitomi was talking about.' He heard his tenant mumble something before he felt a sudden sting in the back of his head. He felt himself gather some chakra in his hand. He held his hand up in the air and strings of chakra shot from his now glowing fist, the strings attaching themselves to the surrounding shinobi, all save one. He let loose a stream of demonic chakra through all the strands of chakra. A split second later the air was filled with screams of horrific pain before they were silenced, their bodies deteriorating into the air. Civilians and low rank shinobi a bit further off witnessed something they had never seen before…rain, yet this rain wasn't in drops; it was in a vapour, red vapour. The remaining Rain nin looked at Naruto's masked face, his face completely white, his body shaking with horror. Naruto turned to the lone nin making the said him shit himself.

"I left you alive so you can tell everyone what you saw here… a 7 year old boy who made the sky rain red. Remember my name; I am the master of chakra, the chakra demon." Naruto's body started to blow away at his feet like smoke. "Oh and when your Kage finally gets here tell him that he brought this upon himself. Gobi, Gaara we're leaving the red Rain village." Naruto said as his body and those of Gobi and Gaara disappeared into smoke and disappearing into the wind. The survivor of the red rain incident feinted seconds after, just as the Amekage came into the area.

The survivor woke up with a scream and he looked around franticly the room to find out where he was. The door to the room burst open, people in medic uniforms coming up to the screaming nin. They tried to stop his screaming but they were failing miserably, and aft a minute of trying to calm the man down they sedated him with a sedative. His screams became quieter until they stopped all together. Again the doors burst open, revealing a irked Amekage.

"Ah the survivor has finally awoken. Now I can finally get some bloody answers." The village leader growled. At the mention of blood the bed ridden nin involuntarily shit himself, his body quivering. The medics were going to help him but the Kage's words stopped them.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU," he shouted. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED THERE?" the traumatized nin's memory flashed to the boys last words.

"Th-that b-b-boy. H-he ki-killed everyone. Th-there w-was n-nothing left of them, just red." He said shakily.

"HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE! WHO THE HELL WAS HE?" the Kage yelled.

"H-he s-said th-that his n-name was the Chakra Demon. H-he stuck h-his h-hand up in th-the air and strands of ch-chakra attached themselves to everyone, a s-second later they we-were gone, nothing was left except red. After calling to his companions they dis-dis-disappeared as if they were made of smoke." He said his voice still shaky.

"Did he say who the red head was?" the Rain leader asked.

"Th-The name…Gaara." The mental trauma being too much for him he passed out again. The Amekage had a thoughtful look on his face at the mention of that name but his thoughts were disturbed when a nin poked his head in the door.

"Lord Amekage, there is three representatives that are asking for an audience with you, they're from Sand. They're waiting for you at your office, and we will you're your wall repaired in a few days. And the red area that the _incident_ occurred still hasn't dispersed yet its spread itself out." He said before leaving. It took the rain Kage a moment to register what he had heard. He headed to the door and cast a look at the bedridden shinobi behind him.

'That man's brain is too unstable from the experience he had with the Chakra Demon, his ninja carrier is over.' As he left the room his thoughts travelled back to the three Sand nin waiting for him. 'Oh crap, what the hell am I going to tell them if they ask about the Kazekage's son?' was his only thought as he left the hospital and in the direction of his office.

* * *

AN: Ok people here we go, another chapter done. 

Now if anyone is lost and or is confused with anything I've written, I encourage you to ask me, I'll happily answer any you have.

I'm not sure when I'll close the polls for the pairing...when I get a significant amount of votes I'll think about it. Vote for whomever you want but keep in mind that I will be writing it so i have the final say, unless a particular girl is voted on. Wouldn't want to piss off my readers now would I?

Idea's and thoughts that you have for future chapters are appreciated. Suggestions for Naruto's Kage name and Village location are wanted desperately!

one though i have that i want a vote on is weather or not Naruto and Gaara should run into any of the sanin on thier way to collect the Bijuu and if so where and how.

Lastly, in this story you will fined that I will NOT be using Japanese words for jutsu, however some are an exception because they sound cooler. eg. chidori, everything else will be in plain old english and very rarely will you see Naruto or anyone else taught his method of using chakra going to use jutsu. If they do then it will be for serious occasions/fights.

R&R people!


	6. Grass Country Part 1

A/N: this took a lot longer than i thought it would. especially with my exams.

here's part 1 of the chapters in Grass country

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Kage rarely go out of their villages and the rare exceptions are the times when ninja selection exams are hosted on different countries, other reason being alliance talks and diplomatic missions. The reinstated Third Hokage of the village hidden in the Leaves was on his way to Sand for a meeting that the Kazekage had requested. The aged Hokage was actually thankful that there was something that pulled him away from the Village that he led, for today was the celebration of the nine tailed fox's defeat by his successor the 4th Hokage and the celebration would be even bigger with Naruto's sudden disappearance. Thinking about the boy made a tear leak from the 3rd's eye, he had failed his successor's last wish, for the boy to be seen as a hero. His mind brought him back to the speech he had given the whole village after the meeting he had with his shinobi. He realized his mistake when news of Naruto's disappearance spread around the village like wildfire. There had been a massive celebration hours after the meeting. When someone had foolishly invited the 3rd to the said celebration she ended on the floor in a pool of red liquid. He reached Sand to find it strangely less populated, even less than usual. A civilian with a sword in his hands approached the 3rd Fire Shadow of the Leaf slowly. The sight astounded the Hokage.

"State you business here in Sand." The man said. It took a moment for the 3rd to gather all his thoughts.

"I'm the Hokage of the Leaf village, I'm here for a meeting with the Kazekage." The goateed man replied. The sword wielder accepted the answer and waved someone from a far distance over to his location. The Hokage noted that this man looked to be another civilian.

"Please follow me, Lord Kazekage is expecting you." The Hokage was led to the Kazekage's office and the two greeted each other. Half an hour into their meeting the 3rd asked the sand Kage something that had been bothering him.

"Prey tell me, what happened to most of your shinobi, I saw as I came in that there were hardly any high level ninja around." The 3rd asked. The Kazekage sighed heavily.

"They're gone, all of them at once. I didn't see it but what I saw was enough proof. They were all killed at the same time with one attack. The person responsible has taken Gaara with them, he was our ultimate backup plan and now he's gone. I had some citizens come to me and say that they saw Gaara going with someone in a dark robe with a black mask on his face with a red symbol of two spirals intertwined on his forehead." Said the Sand Leader. The Hokage was about to respond but was frozen to the spot when a massive explosion of power was felt. It was so massive that possibly everyone in the elemental countries felt it. The Hokage however felt something else within the explosion, the nature of the chakra wasn't human, he had felt this type of chakra only once before… 7 years ago. Both Kage looked at each other, before lowering the heads in failure.

Rain/Grass boarder

Naruto was in incredible pain. It was so intense that he just wanted to die but Hitomi was insistent that the pain was a good thing.

'_**I'm using all my excess chakra to change the nature of your body's cells into a type of living chakra, the pain is good because it indicates that the conversion of your body's cells is going according to plan.**_**'** Hitomi said to her host. Naruto barely acknowledged her words under the pain he was in. He had instructed Gaara to construct a Sand Dome over himself and Gobi to protect them from any ill effects that might happen during his transformation, Hitomi had said that the changes would be quite _explosive_ and perhaps deadly to others unless they were shielded. After 10 minutes Naruto finally felt the pain go away. Just as he felt the last of the pain disappear he felt a power build up in his body and it unleashed itself, blowing his body up into blue vapor. The vapor collected itself again and formed a human shape. The shape lost the blue hue and clothes became visible again. Naruto sat on the ground, panting hard. He had felt his body separate…and then reconstruct itself!

'_**Happy birthday kit, I hope you like my present.'**_ Hitomi voiced in his head, her voice full of cheer and joy. Naruto shook his head.

'I don't want to sound ungrateful but…what in Kami's name did you do to me?' he cried. He heard Hitomi giggle before she responded to his question.

'_**Basically I turned you into a living chakra being. You know how you have to forcibly change your body into chakra using your own doing the 'blow' technique? Now you don't have to do it. And anyone who attempt to hurt you with things like weapons and jutsu won't succeed. People who try to inflict physical damage with Taijutsu will go through you but you can inflict damage on them the same as you always could. Enemy jutsu might make your body explode but as you just found out, you reform quickly. One other important thing is that your body will still act like it always has and most importantly of all, reproduce any chakra you use.' **_Naruto was slack jawed; to say that he was astounded was a severe understatement. He was about to shout out in pure joy when he realized that Gaara and Gobi were still walled up in Gaara's Sand Dome.

"Gaara, Gobi it's finished, you can drop the Dome now." His response was the Dome Crumbling to the ground. Gaara looked at him in alarm.

"What was that explosion?" he asked. Naruto rubbed the back of his hooded head.

"It's my birthday today and Hitomi gave me a gift." He said nervously. He had only understood what a birthday was from the Hokage, who had taken time out of his day to wish him a happy birthday when he was 4; he would often receive the harshest beatings afterwards. Hitomi snapped him out of his thoughts.

'_**Sorry to rain on your parade kit but two very powerful people are headed towards this location. The excess chakra I used in the conversion attracted most likely every countries attentions to this location. We have to get out of here, lest we get caught. I don't think that we want to be hindered in our search for the rest of the Tailed Beasts do we?'**_ she rhetorically asked. He turned to his two traveling companions; they had obviously felt the incoming presence and gave him a curt nod before they turned into chakra vapor and blowing away into the sky just as the two incoming people came into the clearing. The two newcomers saw the wisps of chakra and one of them growled.

"One of them was Gobi. I'm sure of it." One said. The other grunted. He was armless.

"They're probably far away from here by now, they're fast for punks." He said again, the armless one just grunted again before both figures left the area again.

Outskirts of a nearby town

Naruto, Gobi and Gaara were in a grassy plain. They had crossed into Grass and they had met little pockets of people as they walked further in to Grass country.

'_**Kit I think that I might have done something else when I changed your body.'**_ Hitomi said suddenly. Naruto kept quiet, waiting for her to continue.

'_**I'm not sure exactly what happened but it might be possible that I created somewhat of an abnormality with my chakra. I'm not exactly sure what it is I changed so just be cautious. On another note, the explosion of my power acted like a signal flare. Meaning that the six remaining tailed beasts now have an advanced warning of my presence. This means that racoon boy and the pervert dog will need to rejuvenate, which means we have to find somewhere to stay for the night, and I don't think neither Gaara or Gobi plan to sleep outside again.' **_Hitomi said sagely. Naruto's brow furrowed, he didn't want to stay in an inclosed space, it made him feel uncomfortable. Hitomi must have read his mind because she snorted.

'_**How can you keep forgetting that your not in the detestable village of Leaves and there isn't anyone who wants your head…except Sand, Rain and unfortunately the Leaf but hey its not like there are going to be any Leaf ninja in Grass country. At **_**least I hope not.**_**' **_She though the last part. Naruto still felt uneasy yet what Hitomi said won him over. Naruto turned to Gaara and Gobi. He knew that the elemental counties knew of the tailed beasts and that at least someone would recognize Gaara as the Kazekage's son.

"Guys I don' think that it would be wise for you if you were to come with me to Grass. Everybody will b able to identify you guys, Gobi with the aura you generate and Gaara, you're known by most if not all the shinobi countries as the Kazekage's son and I don't want to have a repeat of what happened in Rain. You guys understand right? I am the most powerful and I want to make sure that you guys are safe. That is why I'm going to ask you two to stay here and out of sight." Gaara's eyes widened in shock and Gobi went rigid.

"Gobi still isn't recovered from his encounter with the Akatsuki and the last thing we need is more attention drawn to us especially at a time when neither of you are in any reasonable condition to defend yourselves. Look after yourselves while I'm gone, I shouldn't take too long." Naruto turned from the two in front of him and his body started to 'blow' away with the silent wind. His last words reached their ears before he blew away completely.

"Gaara get the Racoon to teach you to understand demon speak, if we don't then where going to be hard pressed to communicate with the others when we find them." Then he was gone. Gaara let out a small laugh at what he heard next.

'_**It's not fair! She always says that, don't I deserve any respect? Just because I'm the weakest of the tailed beasts doesn't make me a pushover.'**_ Shukaku cried out. He sulked for a few more minutes before he stopped suddenly. Gaara sensed that there was something unsettling his tenant and asked it what was going on. It was Gobi that answered him, drawing an arrow pointed in the direction they came in. Shukaku filled his confused host to Gobi's attempt at communication.

'_**There are people headed in this direction.' **_Gaara was about to ask what the big deal was when the sand incarnation cut him off.

'_**Their not coming in this general direction kid. Their coming towards us… to our exact location. We have what power we have suppressed as much as we can so how could they… find us' **_he trailed off. Gaara supposed that he was sitting in a thinking pose while he was doing this, as if to bolster his intellect. He almost fell flat on his back when the sand demon's voice rang in his head.

'_**Kid we have to get out of here quickly. Looks like your father isn't letting you go as easily as we had hoped. I sense a jounin level chakra signature as well as two other smaller chakra blips.' **_Gaara bit his lip.

'Naruto told us to stay here. What will he do when he comes back here and finds to trance of us?' Gaara questioned. He heard his demon heave a sigh.

'_**I'm not usually the one who incurs Hitomi's wrath but we are supposed to remain inconspicuous to everyone, remember? As long as we remain like that then we have nothing to worry about. Hitomi and Naruto will both understand when they find us.' **_Gaara was unable to respond. Gobi had picked him up by the waist with one of his tails and deposited the red head on his large back. Gobi tried the 'Blow' technique to get away but he gave an indignant growl when he realized that he was still too weak to perform anything less than normal body movements. Gobi had to use his other tails to keep himself up; Gaara's weight on top of his own was too much for him at the moment. Gaara unwrapped the tail from around him and rolled off of the dog.

'Got any bright ideas, because I don't' Gaara asked his tenant. Gaara got the equivalent to a head shake.

"This isn't good." Was the only thing Gaara said before sand sprung in front of him to protect himself from a kunai that was thrown at him. He was taken aback when the kunai exploded; his feet sliding back a few feet as a result of the explosion. He opened his eyes to see who had attacked him. He saw a man with red marks on one cheek with the other side of his face covered, he had a Sand forehead protector on his forehead. He wished that he had the skill with manipulating chakra to use it in battle to deal with the ninja in front of him; there wasn't that much sand around so he didn't have the option of using sand open to him. Shifting into he stance that Naruto had shown him he closed his eyes. He was about to launch into a quick dash when a memory of Naruto's first lesson to him ran through his head.

Flashback

Naruto was standing in a position with his body resting on his back leg with arms bent at the elbow and his hands coming together in a loose cross.

"This stance is used as the basis for the form of taijutsu I will teach you. This opening stance is used so that everyone who uses this style can change it to their liking while still granting the user the qualities that the Chakra Fist warrants. You mustn't be careless and charge without a clear mind or it can prove to be just as damaging to the user." He explained as he ignited his fist with red chakra and shaped it into a sharp razor blade, slicing a tree into toothpicks.

Flashback end

Gaara emitted a small sigh making the Sand jounin look at him funny.

"My father sent you didn't he?" Gaara asked. The Sand nin nodded, although it was slow and hesitant.

"You can tell my father when you go back to Sand that I'm sorry for what my friend did, they were in his way." Gaara clenched his hand into a fist and grunted. His fist lit up with blazing blue chakra. The Sand nin took a step back.

"I won't kill you. But you might wish that I had later. Chakra point destruction!" Gaara swiped his hand diagonally in front of him in the sand nin's direction. Having no idea what kind of attack this was he went threw a few hand seals for a wind jutsu. Just as he called it he felt excruciating pain in his hands and the chakra he had collected for the jutsu dissipated. He tried to suppress a shriek but wasn't successful.

Gaara frowned; he hadn't been concentrating hard enough. He had hit about half the chakra point in both his opponents' hands instead of all of them.

"Baki!" two shouts were heard from behind the Sand nin Gaara now identified as Baki. A blonde haired girl with 4 ponytails and a boy with purple face paint ran up to the Sand jounin.

"Temari…Kankuro…" were Gaara's only words as he stared at his siblings. Time seemed to slow down as the red head, his brother and sister exchanged looks, two of three were terror filled.

* * *

Naruto had been in town for 2 hours. He hadn't bought many things, seeing as there wasn't much that they had to buy that they couldn't make themselves. He had bought some food, a few sealing scrolls after Hitomi insisted that he get them, a detailed road map and a bingo book with a list of missing nin from every country.

'_**Kit when we get out village up we need a way to keep the ninja we train from becoming missing nin. There is no telling what someone could do with this level of control. I prepose we find a means of binding someone trained by you or anyone you've trained with a seal but we can worry about that later. That's still quite some time away. We should get back to Gaara and Gobi; it'll do us no good to have either of them in any sort of trouble. It will attract attention to us and we need to remain discreet.'**_

'We will remain low key until we gather at least half of the tailed beasts.' He replied.

"Freak, why do you insist on coming back here? We don't like you." Said a voice of a kid not to far from where Naruto was. Normally Naruto wouldn't get involved with other people's problems but those words echoed in his mind, making him remember the times back in Leaf where not one person would play with him because of their parent's narrow-mindedness. Naruto shook his head to clear his head of those thoughts and followed the sound to its source. The sound came from a group of kids a few years younger than Naruto. Naruto walked toward what he _knew_ was a person crying, he _needed_ to stop this. Naruto's body was surrounded with a red hue which extended itself to knock those in his path out of his way. Naruto looked at the sight before him; a girl about five years old was lying on the ground, and sobbing her heart out. Naruto spoke in a very controlled voice.

"What's going on here?" the group of kids looked at Naruto but didn't say anything, from either fear or courage he couldn't tell. Naruto knelt down to the girl; she had light blue hair with a simple garb which was frayed at the edges.

"Are you alright?" he asked, hoisting her up off the ground. She held her head low, Naruto couldn't see her face but he knew she was crying. He heard her sniff but she didn't respond. Naruto turned his face to the gathered kids.

"Scram." He barked. Many of the shorter kids ran away; many of them squealing as they did. The remaining kids took a few steps back but didn't leave, but Naruto did notice that they were growing very pale.

"Someone mind telling me why you were piking on this girl here?" he asked again, more forceful then the last. There was a veiled threat that said 'if you answer wrong you're n a lot of trouble'. One of the boys spoke up.

"She…she…wears stupid clothes!" he said but immediately knew he said the wrong thing.

'Illusionary technique: Hells End.' Naruto thought as he cast the 4 boys into a genjutsu. He canceled it immediately after, half a second seeing that would be enough for them.

"Hey it's ok now. Their gone now." Naruto said, trying to comfort the crying girl, gathering her into a hug. Naruto unconsciously moulded chakra into a bench for the girl and himself to sit on instead of the ground. They sat there for a few minutes, Naruto finally able to stop the flowing of tears from the light haired girl.

"Thank you mister." She said, sniffing a few times and rubbing her eyes from the tears.

"That's ok, this happened to me a few times before as well so I know how it feels. What's your name? Mine's Naruto." he said. The girl looked at Naruto's masked face, showing him her eyes; she had pupil less, solid silver eyes that made him whistle in astonishment.

"My name is Rei." Naruto smiled. Rei must have seen this because she smiled a slightly bigger smile than before. Naruto filed that away in the depths of his mind to ask her later.

"Rei is a nice name." Naruto said. Rei nodded in agreement.

"Rei, why were those kids picking on you? Was it because of your eyes?" he asked. He felt her grow stiff in his arms.

"I'm not going to hurt you Rei." He said. That seemed to work because he felt her relax in his slightly bigger arms.

"Yes, people seem to want to stay away from me and my grandmother. My eyes are different than everyone else's, my grandmother knows why but she won't tell me." She said, the last part was said as whisper.

"Come on I'll take you home. Where do you live?" Rei looked at his masked face before nodding.

"I'm not allowed to show people the way to my house but I can trust you." She got of the makeshift bench and led him by the hand through the streets of the town. She led him to a narrow ally and to a door that seemed to be so old it was rotting and threatening to crumble at the slightest hint of pressure.

'_**This girl is like you in some ways kit. She knows of the loneliness you do but not to the extent that you do.' **_Hitomi said startling her host.

'Have you been sleeping all this time or something?' he asked. He got the equivalent of a nod of her head as a response.

'_**Changing your body to that extent was enough to tire even someone as powerful as me. I'm going back to sleep, try not to wake me.' **_ Naruto could hear soft snores coming from the back of his head.

"Naruto?" Rei called his name snapping him out of his trance. He saw that her face held a down expression.

"Sorry Rei I was thinking really hard, I must have gone into a trance." He told her. She seemed to buy it and opened the door. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that the door opened to a set of stairs that led underground.

"Grandmother doesn't trust easy. Even after being bedridden she is surprisingly strong." Rei said as they descended down the stairs.

"Those who have no choice in doing something usually find a way to adapt to their situation." Naruto said almost silently, Rei must have heard him because she nodded at his statement. They reached the bottom of the stairs and Naruto noticed that they were facing another door, accept this one had a written seal on it. He saw that Rei took a small blade and cut her finger, wiping her blood on the seal. She put the blade away and opened the door.

"My grandmother is really good with written seals; I think she said that she was a seal master who trained someone else in seals, she never said who though. She was the one who wrote this blood seal on the door to keep everyone but my family out." She said as she opened the door to what Naruto supposed was Rei's house. Naruto walked in after her and looked around. He saw that it was fairly well lit for being underground. It was very simple setup, a bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. One thing that Naruto noticed was that it was a lot like his apartment back in the Leaf. There weren't any decorations of any sort anywhere.

"My family and I snuck into Grass country when I was only a few months old. Grandmother told me that they died trying to flee while trying to protect me and grandmother." Rei explained as she led Naruto through her house.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Immortal Fire jutsu!" rang through the air. Small fireballs sailed through the air smacking into Naruto, making him blow up into blue smoke. Rei let out a glass breaking shriek and looked in horror at where Naruto had been just seconds ago. Rei turned to see her grandmother leaning against a door frame for support as she breathed heavily. She wore a simple white kimono with shoulder length grey hair, her eyes the same as her granddaughter.

"Rei why in Kami's name did you bring that person down here? You know how…much… danger…" Rei's grandmother started to scold her granddaughter about the foolishness of bringing someone down to their home when she saw the remaining blue smoke of the person she attacked regroup before her eyes.

"That's still an odd feeling. Man for an old grandmother you are pretty strong." Naruto said as his body finished reforming. Rei's grandmother was gawking at the sight of the person she had apparently killed moments before come back to life.

"N-Naruto?" Rei asked her eyes moist from fresh tears.

"In the flesh, so to speak. Do you always attack everyone who isn't your family?" Naruto asked. Rei's grandmother was still speechless but she had a look on her face like she had seen a ghost, Naruto didn't see her mouth a name in disbelief. A defeated sigh escaped Naruto before he turned to leave.

"Naruto where are you going?" asked Rei. Naruto turned to her.

"Your grandmother doesn't seem to want me around Rei, besides I should get going. I have some friends that I left outside of town which I have to find. If those kids come and hassle you again tell them they'll get a visit from me. Maybe I'll see you around someday." He said before he 'blew' out of sight and through the door cracks. Rei started to cry again when the smoke left completely.

"What did he mean by 'those kids that hassled you' Rei?" asked Rei's grandmother. Rei spend the next few minutes explaining to her grandmother what Naruto had done for her.

"He did that? Look we can talk about this later. Right now I think you need to go find your friend. He's going to the boarder of Grass and Rain." She hadn't needed to say anything else; Rei had raced out the door the second she heard where Naruto was headed. The old grandmother sighed. She had attacked the only person her granddaughter considered her first friend and someone who looked like someone she used to know.

"Please find him Rei. I need to apologise to Minato's kid."

* * *

AN: This is the 1st time I've ever created an original character for a story, especially with the bloodline limit. I did make this chapter longer than the last 5, hope you like it.

As always send me any errors you might find in my writing.

Remember to vote for the pairing, its looking pretty one sided at the moment, not that I mind.

I'd like to take this time to thank Mortalone, NaruHinata Forever and Battousai222 for their contribution to the development of the Village selection and village and Kage name. i apologize to anyone I missed.

I'm so happy, I've gotten 9415 hits with the story on 20 c2's, 36 fav lists and being on 93 ppls alert lists, although only 53 reviews.

Thank you to all who have reviewed.

Remember that I'm accepting of any suggestions and ideas that anyone has for me.

R&R


	7. Grass Country Part 2

AN: well this update has come along faster than i thought it would. Enjoy!

* * *

Naruto reformed from the 'blow' with an eerie silence. He sighed. Rai wasn't kidding. Not only was her grandmother not very trusting but she was quite hostile to anyone she didn't know. He wasn't very trusting and neither was she apparently. He began his trek to where he had left Gobi and Gaara. Hopefully they had done as they were told and kept themselves out of sight. His mind wandered back to what Rai had told to him before her grandmother showed up. 

'My grandmother is really good with written Seals; I think she said that she was a Seal master who trained someone else a long time ago.' Naruto sighed. He liked Rai; it felt nice helping someone like her, someone similar to him.

'_**It's a shame her grandmother attacked us. She could've taught you sealing.' **_Hitomi said drowsily. Naruto sent her a puzzled look.

'Don't you know how to create and use Seals?' Naruto asked, one eyebrow raised.

'_**My knowledge is quite limited in that area. The seal I had you place on the racoon's vessel was a demon Seal but I didn't pay much attention to my teacher. The seal I taught you is one of the only Sealing techniques I know.' **_Hitomi said while trying to stifle a yawn. Naruto shook his head, a small smile on his face under his mask before he 'blew' through the forest. Half his body had turned to smoke wen he sensed something running in his direction.

"Naruto!" Someone yelled. Naruto's eyes opened wide, he knew that voice. The person drew closer until they were directly in front of him.

"Rai why are you out here?" he asked having reformed his body from the smoke. The blue haired girl panted loudly, regaining her breathe, running all the way out of the town and out here was quite taxing for her small body.

"After I told her what you did for me earlier, my grandmother felt horrible. She wishes to meet with you. I didn't stick around to find out though, the second she told me where you were going I started running." Rai told the masked boy.

'Isn't this a nice surprise.' Naruto thought before he nodded his head that he would go back with her.

"Before I go I have to find my friends that I told you were waiting for me. You might want to come with me, you're too far from the town to go by yourself and something might happen to you." Naruto suggested. Rai looked at Naruto for a second before nodding her head, walking up to his side and grasping his hand. They walked to the edge of the forest where Naruto had left them, they weren't there. Naruto looked around the area for any possible explanation as to why they hadn't done as he asked. Naruto felt the residue from a charged chakra strike.

"Someone must have found them, but whom? The only people who would know how to find Gaara would be me and Akatsuki but I doubt that Sasori's organization would send him out armless, it was either them or someone else who knows the feel of their essence." Naruto mumbled to himself. He registered a tugging on his cloaks sleeve to see that Rai was trying to get his attention. He turned his head to look at her.

"Naruto something seems wrong over there, there is sand just dumped on the grass." Rai said pointing to a sand patch not far from where Naruto had been moments ago. He turned from the sight before immediately turning back to look at it.

"That's it! Rai you're a genius!" Naruto said bringing her into a hug. She wasn't expecting this and let out a high pitched squeal in surprise. He quickly let her go smiling apologetically at her. Rai had a slight blush adorned on her face, wether it was from the praise or the sudden hug Naruto wasn't quite sure.

"Where are your friends Naruto?" Rai asked again.

"They fled into the forest, the Hidden Sand must have tracked Gaara down, they would know the signature of Shukaku's power so they used it to hone in on his location." He said as they proceeded into the trees. Naruto didn't think that shredding the forest was a good idea, as much as he wanted to find them he knew that drawing attention like that would ruin the surprise he wanted to store for when he revealed his village, that and he was sure that they hid themselves quite well. Naruto let out an aggravated snarl.

"I'd be able to find them much faster if it weren't for these trees blocking my way." He said letting out a sigh.

"If you want I can try to find them. I can see through the trees so the only problem would be getting to them." Rai suggested. Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Getting to them won't be a problem after we find where their hiding. The faster we find them the faster we can talk with your grandmother." Rai nodded. Rai turned her head in a full circle, squinting her eyes after a few minutes. She had a very calculative look on her face.

"I see three humans and what looks like a dog. Their over in that direction." She said pointing to Naruto's left. Naruto whistled seeing where Gaara and Gobi had fled to, it was near impossible to see where you were going in that part of the forest, the trees had grown in a way that completely blocked of any light from shining through.

'Wait…three humans? What's going on?' he asked himself.

"Rai can you see through the dark or can you just see my friends?"

"The dark makes it much harder to see the individual object's outline. If I had a light I could get us through but with no light it's impossible." Rai answered. Naruto did something that made Rai blink at him confusingly.

"I think that I can change that impossible into a possible. Big bright light." Naruto's fist ignited with white hot flames, light cutting through the darkness like a hot knife through butter. Rai looked at Naruto and his lit fist in wonder.

"If you want to know how I did this I'll tell you, after we've gotten back to your house. Right now we have people to find." They began their journey into the darkness. They came to a cave that erected itself from the surrounding trees 25 minutes later.

"They're in there." Rai said pointing into the tree cave. Naruto nodded his head and walked to the mouth of the cave.

"Gaara, Gobi get out here right now!" he shouted. Half a minute later they came out looking white as sheets, or at least Gaara was, Gobi was quivering in his small form. Naruto turned his gaze to the two others that were with Gaara. One was wearing _something_ that made him resemble a cat; he was wearing purple paint on his cheeks. The other was a girl with blonde hair in four ponytails.

"Spill it you two, who are they?" Naruto asked firmly, jutting his thumb at the two mystery people. One of the newcomers shot back at Naruto.

"Who are you to speak to us like that?" seethed the girl. Gaara looked alarmed at the blonde girl.

"Temari! Please stop. It isn't wise to anger him; he could kill you with a simple thought. You know of the Red Rain incident right?" Gaara said alarmed. The girl Naruto now new as Temari nodded her head.

"We passed through Rain to see if there had been any sightings of you around. The Amekage told us that there had been a bloody incident recently, that's what you talking about right?" She asked her brother. Gaara nodded.

"The guy you're talking to was the cause of the said incident. Naruto please forgive my sister, she doesn't like taking orders very well." Gaara pleaded with his black masked friend. Gaara noted that there was someone standing not to far off from Naruto. Naruto gave a single nod to show that he let it slide.

"Naruto, who's the girl?" asked Gaara pointing at the blue haired girl. The girl looked at Naruto hesitantly, a frightened look on her face.

"It's ok Rai neither of these people will hurt you, trust me if they do they won't live to tell the tail." He said waving her forward. Rai walked toward Naruto and took hold of his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"This Gaara is a friend of mine who lives in the nearby town I was in just before. Who's the cat?" Naruto asked. The 'cat' growled at Naruto, getting a death glare in response from Naruto making the paint wearing boy yelp in surprise.

"These two are my older brother and sister Kankuro and Temari. They came looking for me with a jounin to bring me back to Sand. After I beat the jounin with a chakra point destruction technique he fled leaving my brother and sister with me and Gobi." Gaara explained. Naruto nodded his head, accepting Gaara's explanation.

"That's good to know. I got us the things we needed from town but there is some unfinished business we have to take care of. We might even be able to _negotiate _for a place to stay for the night. We can discuss what else you've been doing and why you disobeyed me." He said walking away, Rai right next to him. Gaara gulped, his face loosing most of its colour and Gobi whined as they followed Naruto. Gaara's siblings exchanged cautious glances before following after their brother.

Naruto and his group stood in the kitchen of Rai's house. They had just arrived and Naruto was interested to hear Rai's grandmother's reason for calling him back here after what happened when they first met. Rai sat next to her grandmother at the table, opposite Naruto and his friends.

"It's good that Rai had found you. There is much I would like to say but before I do I want to apologize for attacking you, I just reacted. Rai must have seen something in you that she knew she could trust. I acted without thinking." She said. Naruto waved her off.

"It's ok really, I would have done the same thing as you had our positions been reversed." Naruto told her, accepting her apology. The old woman seemed to straighten, as if being relived of a great weight.

"If I may say that is a very interesting mask you're wearing, what is it made from?" she asked. Naruto scratched the back of his hooded head.

"I moulded it out of my chakra. My teacher taught me how to use this particular method of controlling my chakra. It's much less restricted than the other method. As a plus I don't even need to use any hand seals, although I need to move my arms to mould the chakra into a usable forms for some of my jutsu." He explained. The old lady nodded her head.

"I've heard of such things been done before using chakra, they use a meteorite to give them control over chakra at levels thought to be impossible. Is that where you're from?" she asked. Naruto shook his head.

"I've worked to get my control to this level from scratch, when I fled my village I only had one other with me. She taught me all I know." Naruto said.

"I assume that the teacher you speak of is sealed into your stomach?" she asked. Naruto shot out of his seat in alarm. Rai's grandmother, in turn shot out of her seat to grab onto his arm, not willing to let him go.

"Do not leave, son of Minato!" She said desperately. Naruto had froze hearing this. He had never known his parents, and this lady was claiming she knew his father? He shook his head violently; it _wasn't true_, was it?

"Wha…what did you call me?" Naruto stammered. Gaara looked at Naruto; he had never seen him like this. Given they had only been together for a short while but seeing someone like Naruto like this made Gaara feel bad. He knew his father and although he was a dickhead he was still his father.

"My name is Kazumi Shoiha. I am a Seal master, or rather mistress; I am the same Seal master who completed your fathers training in Sealing before his time as Hokage. It is a shame that he had to die the way he did, I had hoped to leave this Earth before him." She said with a sigh. Naruto had the mental capacity for only one word.

"How?" Kazumi smiled a small smile filled with sadness.

"Every master of Sealing has their own style of writing such seals. I can see the Seal on your stomach and I can tell that is of my style. I remember all of those that I have taught my art too, only one. That Seal is a containment Seal designed to hold something and judging from what I see here, it holds something of great power, say…the nine tailed fox that attacked the Leaf 7 years ago today. But how Minato did such a thing is beyond me no mortal can defeat a demon… Ah I see what you did, you are very cleaver, perhaps too cleaver for your own good." She said, starting to mumble at the end of her speech. Naruto cleared his throat, snapping Kazumi out of her mutterings.

"What are you talking about? Please, I want to know." Naruto begged.

"As I said before no man can ever hope to defeat a demon, your father knew this so he summoned a being that had the power to do what he couldn't. He summoned the Shinigami, the Death god to seal the demon into you. However every dealing with the god of death is a double edged sword, the Shinigami will do as he is asked and takes his summoners soul as payment." Kazumi said her face cast down a dark look on her aged face. Naruto didn't know how he felt; he wanted to be angry he really did but the feeling of finally knowing who his father was, the right of that knowledge that had been stripped from him finally being revealed was too much. Even with all his mental defences, Naruto was unable to stop the sobs that were about to flood his small body. Naruto let out a pain filled sob which then turned into full blown crying. Kazumi, in an instant without even realizing it had enveloped him in a comforting embrace. Naruto didn't even register what was happening around him, he was too lost within himself. Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Rai could only stand by and watch as Naruto continued to cry.

Naruto awoke to find himself face to face or rather face to mask with Rai, she was looking at him. Rai jumped back when Naruto opened his crystal blue eyes, watching someone who was sleeping snap their eyes open at such close range would have a lot of people jump in surprise. Thank god Naruto had his mask on; he was sporting a massive blush on his face at the closeness of their faces, although he had no idea why.

"Where am I Rai?" he asked as he sat up. It took a second for Rai to gather herself, as well as suppress a blush on her face before she answered, she may be a small girl but she knew that she was far too close to Naruto then she would be comfortable with if he was awake.

"After you cried yourself to sleep, grandmother brought you in here. This is my room. She asked me to get her as soon as you woke up." And with those words she was out the door. A head of red hair popped into the framer of the door.

"Naruto are you ok?" the sand boy asked.

"Honestly? I have no idea how I feel right now. It came as a really big shock."

"Yeah we all saw." Gaara said with a small sad smile. Naruto flinched hearing these words.

"None of us think any less of you Naruto, what you went through yesterday is completely understandable." Gaara said seeing Naruto's reaction to his last words.

"I…I just need time to have this knowledge sink into my brain, my dad was a Hokage, the 4th to boot." Naruto said. Seeing Gaara nod his head before turning to leave, Naruto called to him before he left completely.

"Gaara, round everybody up and get ready as soon as possible. I hope you guys ate and rested as I slept, we will most likely be coming out of this country with hostiles after us and personally I don't want to commit the same act I did in Rain. A repeat performance doesn't do well for a growing reputation. If this Kage is smart he'll keep from attacking us like Rain did." Gaara gave a single nod before his head disappeared from the door frame to do as he was instructed. Not a minute passed before Kazumi came into the room, followed closely by Rai. Not bothering with the pleasantries Kazumi went straight to business, thinking that Naruto wasn't in the greatest of moods for small talk after hearing what he had heard yesterday.

"What are you going to do now Naruto?" she asked sitting on the end of the bed.

"I want to go back to the Leaf and demand the answers that I have been denied. And kill a lot of the villagers. I want to but I can't let the Akatsuki get any of the tailed beasts lest they do something horrible with their power. But once I find them all and my village is up and running, oh they'll regret ever keeping something as big as that away from me." He said resolutely. Kazumi nodded her head, her hair falling in front of her aged face.

"I wouldn't have expected anything less from you Naruto. Now as I understand it you're headed for the Heart of Grass country to get some info out of the Kage that runs this land?" she asked. Naruto nodded at her question.

"Well we better get going then if we want to get their before tomorrow." Kazumi said as she turned to leave.

"Yep… wait, WHAT!" he yelled as he recalled her last statement. Rai let out small but audible giggle.

"Well I do owe your father a favour and because of his passing the favor passes to you, I think he wanted to have Sealing as one of your ninja arts. You need someone to teach you how to perform Sealing properly and who better to do it than the one who taught your father hmm? Besides, I don't think the demon sealed in you can help you learn anything of Sealing, probably thought it was beneath them and wouldn't have to rely on such an inferior skill." she said with a smile as she left Naruto in her grand daughter's room, Rai following closely behind Kazumi, giving side glances at Naruto every few seconds. Naruto delved into his mind to Hitomi's cage, he wasn't surprised to hear soft snores coming from the cage, she did say that his transformation took a lot out of her. He slipped into the cage to find her sleeping, half of her tails being used as a mattress to keep her out of the water and the rest of them as a blanket. He shook her gently.

"Hitomi wake up, there are a few things that have just arisen. I think you should hear it since you were asleep almost all of yesterday and it concerns you." He said trying to wake her, all he got as a response was a few murmurs. Against his better judgement Naruto went to the next step in trying to wake the sleeping demon queen. He crept up next to Hitomi's slightly pointy ear and brought his masked mouth right next to it.

"Hitomi wake up." The reaction was instantaneous. Her slitted red eyes sprang open searching for the owner of the voice that just woke her up. She turned her head to come in direct contact with crystal blue eyes.

"_**Good morning kit, what brings you in here?"**_ she asked with a smile. Naruto on the other hand was having something equivalent to a heart attack. If he hadn't of had his mask on she would have kissed him. He quickly buried that thought, if Hitomi found out about that he'd never live to see another sunrise. He took a step away from her before he spoke.

"An update on our situation; our travelling party has just been boosted, Gaara's brother and sister as well as Rai and her grandmother Kazumi." He said. By this time Hitomi was siting up listening intently to this new information.

"I found out last night who my father was. As it turns out Kazumi was the one who completed my fathers training in Sealing before he became Hokage, before he wrote this Seal that's on my stomach that keeps you prisoner here in my body." He told her. After the words left his mouth he thought he had done the wrong thing. Hitomi was seething with anger.

"_**That IDIOT! I can't believe he would do such a thing to you, his own flesh and blood! When next we come across the Leaf again they are going to regret ever treating you like that!"**_ She nearly screamed. Naruto was taken aback by this outburst; he was expecting her to go into a massive rage on being trapped in the son of the one who imprisoned her. Before he forgot he added the last bit in.

"After Kazumi had told me I cried myself to sleep. Just now I woke up; Kazumi is going to be teaching me the art of Sealing." He waited to gauge her reaction. Her attitude did a 180, she smiled an insane smile that sent shivers down his spine.

"_**Although it goes against what I said about being low key we have gained a powerful ally, the eyes of both Rai and Kazumi possess have a very unique set of abilities. The name of the bloodline, the Kenzenoi meaning 'clear eye' makes the use of genjutsu a very devastating weapon. The Kenzenoi can influence the creation of a genjutsu into a corporal version of any illusion that is cast. Rai's family simply put, have the ability to make genjutsu they cast into the real thing. There was a civil war in come country and most of them were eradicated. These two may be the only people alive that possess the Clear Eye."**_ She explained. Naruto whistled in astonishment. Hitomi nodded her head in agreement.

"After we gather the tailed beasts and find a location for our village I'm going back to the Leaf to get some answers about my heritage. By whatever means necessary." Naruto said determinedly to which Hitomi gave a single nod to.

"_**You'd better. Before you leave there is something you should consider, you know that Akatsuki had nin operatives now so they have most likely split up to get their targets. Send the sandbag's container's siblings with the two that possess the Kenzenoi to Wave, they don't need to be around for you to gather the rest of the tailed beasts, they would only slow you down. Although you need to learn Sealing, gathering the tailed beasts is far more important seeing as others are looking for them. Send the weaker ones to Wave country; it is neutral country with no nin village as well as being close to the sea, where the fish is most likely to be located they can go through fire country to cut the chances of enemy attacks but I strongly discourage this. If they get held up by Leaf nin they would be asked questions which could damage our plans."**_ Naruto nodded before being forced out of his mind.

Kankuro was sitting with his siblings in the kitchen. They had been instructed to pack up whatever they could. The paint wearing boy saw Kazumi and Rai packing up their kitchen pacing all their items on a scroll. He was perplexed to what they were doing and was ridden slack jawed when he saw Kazumi write something on the scroll before all the items vanished. Kazumi saw Kankuro's state and smiled at him.

"These are Sealing scrolls. I saw that Naruto had a few in his possession but they have yet been used. I'm assuming that he has yet to be instructed on how to use them." She said as she continued to Seal things in the scroll. Naruto appeared from the door of Rai's room.

"Everybody all set and ready to go?" he called to everyone. He received nods from the Sand sibs and bark from Gobi.

"I'm taking everything that we have here with us seeing as we'll never be coming back for it. It seems like a waste to leave anything behind." Naruto nodded at her logic. A few minutes later everybody was filing out of the underground house. Kazumi closed the door with the blood seal on it and wrote a few kanji on the door before quickening her pace up the staircase. Naruto, who had seen her do what she did fell back to her down from his position at the front to help her, he had seen her struggling to keep going at this pace. After they got out of the door at the top Kazumi slammed the door closed. Everyone looked at her confusingly but they discovered why when a tremor was felt underneath them. Kazumi noticed their looks offered them an explanation.

"I set a grand explosive seal on the door with a time limit that would explode. That tremor was from the explosion." She said as she lent against the building wall for support as she rested.

"I'm thinking because of the bloodline you have you have and the fact that you've had to hide from the world, you've neglected to purchase a cane to help with your walking." He said as she let her breathing even out. At her nod Naruto drew chakra to his hand shaped it into a cane and handed it to her; he did not miss the look of surprise on her face about him knowing her bloodline. It was a simple light brown walking stick which gleamed in the light. As she grasped it she felt it pulse.

"While travelling with us you might find yourself in a hard place. This cane can reshape itself into a weapon when the need to defend yourself arises, the more chakra you put in it the more damage you can deal." He said before he resumed his position at the head of the 6 people 1 demon group. Naruto motioned for attention.

"Now I can only assume how things are going to play out when we reach the ninja capital. I will NOT accept anyone being a casualty so after our business is done here Gaara and I are going straight to Waterfall after we're done here and 'persuade' them to give over their demon container. The rest of you will be going to a small island, Wave country. They have no ninja village and their military strength is minimal. If you two" he pointed to Temari and Kankuro. "Encounter any hostilities you are to use whatever means necessary to bypass it, I'm leaving Rai, Kazumi and Gobi in your hands. Don't worry about getting lost, I'm sure that Kazumi can guide you and should you need it you can get a map get there however you want however i recommend staying out of Fire country. Because we're splitting up I'm going to give you a crash coarse in using the techniques that I'm teaching Gaara. Your mind is the only limitation; use your chakra as a weapon, force as much chakra out of your chakra points as possible to use it to inflict physical damage. Under NO circumstances are you to tell anyone how to do these techniques; they're going to be village secrets when it starts up. By the time we meet up again we'll have our party up by another 2 if all goes well a few more if we're lucky." Naruto focused his chakra into a condensed orb and handed it to Kazumi. "This will allow us to find you no matter where you are." Naruto spend another few minutes discussing more in depth instructions before Naruto and Gaara 'blew' out of sight. Temari, who had given Gobi to Rai, unenthusiastically chuckled.

"Ok people lets get going." She said nervously as they began their long journey to Wave. Meanwhile Kankuro was silently pleading to Kami for their trek to be simple and not run into any possible enemies. Rai was hoping that Naruto and Gaara were successful in getting what they were seeking and Kazumi just hoped that they would get to Wave in one piece.

* * *

The Kusakage wasn't an old decrepit old man like the Fire shadow who had been reinstated after the death of the fourth Fire shadow; he was in his mid thirties and had only been the Kage of Grass for a few years. Although fairly new to the workings of being top dog of the Grass country he had quickly learnt of very effective ways in which to deal with the bane of every Kage's existence, said bane being paperwork. When he took the position he had known there to be paperwork involved but this was ridiculous. He was currently giggling like a school girl while reading a small orange book within the confines of his office. He had been newly introduced to the book by a white haired man who he met in passing; he had dropped it from his pocket and told the Kusakage that he could keep it. When the Kage asked for the man's identity he simply said that his name was in the back of the book before he disappeared. This had happened just minutes before the Kage saw the white haired man fly through the air after a loud scream of 'pervert'. Currently the Kusakage was faced with a dilemma; he had to complete this paperwork which consisted of mission reports, mission requests and civilian complaints but he did not want to do any of it, simply because it was so boring and it took forever. The Kusakage was currently leaning back in his chair hiding behind several fairly large stacks of paperwork with the orange book he had been given in his hand. He had settled for reading this book instead of ding paperwork and he found himself unable to put it down, so engrossed in the fantasy that it brought its readers to. If no one came in to bother him then he could continue to do what he was currently doing. He had gotten to a really good paragraph when he was brought back to earth by a sound coming from the other side of the wall of paperwork. He was completely taken by surprise when someone started speaking right over his shoulder. Because of this surprise he fell backwards onto the ground. The Grass leader glanced around to where the voice came to find nothing there. Then he noticed something odd, there was blue smoke floating around him. It perplexed him to see that the smoke hadn't dissipated but slowly clumped together. He nearly freaked out when a masked face popped into view. 

"BOO." That simple word made the Grass leader squeal like a small child. The masked head then grew a body from the smoke before leaning down to read the book open on the floor.

"Wow, I didn't think it was a Kage wide habit to read this smut. I guess I underestimated yet another Kage. Let me cut right to the chase, I know that you're not in possession of a tailed beast so we won't deal the same damage we did against Rain, that is if you play your cards right." The Grass leader jumped in surprise when another voice was heard from the other side of the towers of paperwork.

"Actually my Lord it was you who did everything in Rain, if I recall I didn't do anything that brought about the Red Rain." Hearing this, the Kusakage became very rigid, the rumoured Chakra Demon was right in front of him. The Chakra Demon smacked his masked face in mock embarrassment.

"I do believe your right Sandman I do apologise. Ah but where getting off track aren't we, I assume you know who I am." He said as he sat on the desk, coincidently sending a stack of paperwork on the end of the desk to come crashing down on the floor, creating a big thud that shook the office.

"Oh I so don't envy you leader of Grass country. The Kage that protected my village before I left it had to deal with the exact same thing, what a pity." He said tutting. The one the Kusakage had heard being referred to as Sandman shook his head giving a shallow chuckle.

"My Lord, aren't you going to be forced to do paperwork like this when our village becomes operational?" Sandman asked.

"You underestimate me Sandman; I can just get someone else to do it for me. That or I can just dispatch a few dozen solid clones to do it. Ahem, anyway you know who I am from what I did in Rain. Should you _try_ to initiate a capture and or an attempt to kill me I feel that you should know the punishment." He created a small miniature hologram with chakra of a battle with one standing opposite a whole army on the Kage's desk. The black figure pointed to the lone figure.

"This is me and the others are enemy shinobi. With a simple thought I can disintegrate anyone who initiates an attempt on my life." The simulated battle showed the single man wave his hand turning its enemies into dust. The Chakra Demon hopped off the desk and headed to the door joining his partner. they reached the door when the Chakra Demon turned to face the Kage.

"Any of your nin that attacks us, weather they've been ordered to or not, will die. I am the Chakra Demon. _**I will not be fucked with!**_" he shouted before both he and the Sandman vanished into smoke. The Kusakage only had one thought going through his head as the two left.

"I'm screwed" He mumbled to himself, still on the floor in his upturned plush chair, his book of porn forgotten on the floor.

* * *

AN: First of all the bloodline that I created is of my design, although the name is probably pretty lame. I thought it would make for an interesting change. 

Seeing as its very much one sided and i don't see it changing very much the pairing poll will be closing very soon, in a chapter or so.

All other polls, those being village name and location are still open. I have a fair idea of what i want to do but its always nice to have something else to fall back on if one doesn't work, as we all know no one gets it right on the first try.

Comments, corrections and story ideas are greatly appreciated by all.

A big thanks to everyone who has reviewed!

R&R!


	8. Going Back Home

AN: To all my readers, I'm terribly sorry for how long this has taken me to write. I've just had a lot on my plate to deal with, from year 11 end of year exams to year 12 holiday homework, which i still haven't completely finished.

Anyway, just so that I don't confuse you this chapter is set several weeks after where the last one left off. I just couldn't think of a scenario so i skipped it. I will explain it in flashbacks, but not all in this chapter.

* * *

"I never thought that I'd have to come back here of all places to come and get you guys. But I guess that it couldn't be avoided for too much longer, I had to come back here to get some info and say goodbye to those that really cared." Naruto said standing on a road with Konoha's walls on the horizon. Three other masked figures stood a few metres behind him. 

"Right, why are we here again?" a figure wearing a dark red mask asked the one on the middle.

"Originally when he left this place he and I met up with two people, one an old grandmother and the other a young girl about 5 years old. We were in Grass country at the time so it was a fair while ago. Anyway the grandmother knew someone that he was close to. He will want to retain that connection, at any cost." Gaara replied, now sporting a sand coloured mask with the same symbol on his forehead as Naruto's. The other figure on the left, who was about 4 inches taller than the other three, sporting a dark brown mask with the same symbol as the two boys, folded his arms in irritation but didn't say anything.

"Why is that so important?" a grumpy voice came from the last figure who was wearing a red mask with the same symbol as the others.

"Well before we found you guys-" Gaara began

"I'm a girl you dim-witted sand boy." The red masked figure interrupted him.

"Yes alright before we found both of you we were travelling with the two that I mentioned and my siblings. We needed to be quick and clear-cut with our movements so we split up with them. That and what we had to do to find you guys wasn't something that we wanted the others to see, especially Rai. We were going to meet them at a country called Wave. It's actually an island but-"

"Dude your getting off topic again." The dark brown masked figure reproached.

"Naruto didn't feel that they were where they were supposed to be, instead he felt them in there." Gaara said jutting his thumb at the village in the distance.

"How does Naruto know that?" the tallest among them asked.

"He created an object from his chakra that served as a locater beacon so that we could find and regroup with them once we found you two and any other tailed beast along the way." The tall boy nodded his head in understanding.

"Right…not to be a buzz kill but we can't exactly go in there all willy nilly. We need a plan and I'm pretty certain that we won't be able to sneak into this place without someone finding us out, this village holds the clan with the all seeing eye's or so I heard from those in my former village, so I'm thinking that it will be even harder." The red masked figure said.

"The Byakugan can be fooled. While we were in Cloud I was able to extract some info they had on it from a _reliable_ and _willing_ source. Those eyes can see though objects, have telescopic eyesight, can see the chakra pathways in a person's body as well as their chakra points. If we can produce an intense flash of chakra it will blind them if they chose to use their eyes on us. Because it's the Hyuuga clan you can expect them to be heavily reliant on their eyes for their style of fighting. The only other threat we might have to face is the Sharingan but seeing as Itachi massacred all but one I think we will be fine. Besides that the whole idea is to get in and out with them with the least amount of ninja detecting us." Naruto spoke up grabbing the other three's attention.

"Just how are we going to do that?" the red masked figure asked irked, turning her head to the side, her blonde hair swishing behind her.

"Demonic transformation." Naruto called. His form changed into a mass of bright blue colour before changing size and shape. When the light from the change receded a black bird stood in its place.

"Why the hell would you take the form of a bird? I thought you loved foxes." the red masked figure said snidely.

"Foxes are taboo in the Leaf village Yugito and as a bird it will be easier to scout out the village. Now change your forms and ask your demons to block off all of the excess chakra you don't need, a bird shouldn't have any chakra to speak of. It would be less suspicious if we all flew in a flock, it would alleviate suspicion. Though four black birds is an uncommon sight in these parts I don't think they'll look into it too much." The other three mumbled to themselves, something about smartass foxes but they nonetheless did as they were told. Several minutes and three flashes of light later they were all standing on the ground as birds.

"OK now what? You know I don't know how to fly." Gaara said, Yugito and the biggest bird nodded at Gaara's statement.

"What kind of birds are you? Flap your wings to lift up intro the air then use your wings to catch the wind under your winds to control the hight in which you can fly at." he instructed. For a few minutes the three transformed figures were able to grasp the concept of flying, some more willing than others.

"Stop your whining Yugito; you won't have to do this many more times." Naruto reproached.

"I tend to want to eat birds, not be them, I feel like I want to eat myself, do you now how that feels?" Yugito hissed at him.

"I have a fox in me that wants to maim me at the moment because of the form I'm in, deal with it ya mangy feline." Yugito hissed again.

"Quit it you two, lets do what we came here to do and find my family, Kazumi and Rai." Gaara said slightly irked.

"Hai hai, lets get going before Yugito gets too catty." Flapping their wings to gain height, they began their approach toward Konoha with Yugito trying to close-line Naruto occasionally for his last remark.

"You really have no tact do you?" the large bird said offhandedly as Naruto dodged yet another swoop from Yugito.

"How long did it take you to figure that out Kai, you're supposed to be smarter than all of us with that brain box of a turtle inside you." Naruto teased.

"Just you wait Naruto; I'll get you back one of these days." Kai playfully threatened.

"Talks cheap Kai." He shot back. A few seconds later Naruto circled around the other three.

"I just realised that even though we look like birds we can still speak, so from now on no talking, if you have something to say hold it till we're able to change back." A chorus of 'hai' was heard before the four flew off toward Konoha.

Konoha Prison

"You know this is your entire fault right?" Rai pouted. Temari just crossed her arms.

"You know Temari I think she has a point. It was your stubbornness that made Rai's granny to cave in after your persistent whining and go along the boarders of Fire country and its neighbours. Even the masked dude warned us before he and Gaara left that it wasn't a good idea to go though this country." Kankuro commented.

"OK, alright already, I get it, this is my fault but how was I supposed to know that Leaf shinobi were going to be there." She yelled back.

"It's still your fault." Rai said crossing her arms, mirroring Temari's stance adding a pout along with it.

"Will you three brats shut up already, your giving me a headache." An anbu guard shouted.

"Mister bully person, why are we being held here?" Kankuro asked tapping the vertical bars, creating a metallic ping noise. "I mean were just kids, not ninja this is cruel!" he shouted.

"Stop frightening the kids lizard face, we only has to keep them contained till the others get the info out of the old lady they were travelling with." A voice from down the corridor sounded.

"Shut up Eagle, at least you get to sit down, I have to stand. I wonder how hard it is to get information out of an old lady." He grumbled, not liking the joke about his mask pattern. The screeching sound of metal hinges moving indicated that someone was coming through the door to the detainee section of Konoha's prison complex.

"We have enough info for the moment, set her with the three brats and bring me the brat with the light blue hair. I need a blood sample." A doctor said.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER, YOU HEAR ME!" Kazumi shouted, her words backed up by a burst of killing intent. A slap sound bounced of the stone walls of the room. Kazumi slumped to the ground, her bruised and battered body hardly moving. Kazumi was able to turn her head to be looking down the corridor to where their items they had were stored. Not being able to move she knew that their chances for escape were nill. Finding the orb that Naruto had given her before they departed she locked on to it.

'I hope this works.' She thought as she sent what little chakra she was able to use to the sphere. Sensing the use of chakra from Kazumi the standing guard glared at her.

"What did you do?" he growled. Kazumi chuckled weakly as the orb she was given exploded like a grenade, creating a burst of chakra.

"I'm calling for backup." Was all she said before falling unconscious. The two anbu exchanged a look before unlocking the cell door and letting the doctor in the cell. Temari and Kankuro shared a look before taking a guarding position in front of Rai.

"You'll have to get through us first." They said defiantly in unison, shielding Rai from view.

Outside

The four black birds that were just flying over the gates of Konoha felt an explosion of chakra. Naruto, after identifying that explosion as the tracking orb he had given Kazumi before he and Gaara separated from her, Rai and Gaara's siblings turned in the direction of the chakra burst. Gaara, Kai and Yugito also felt the explosion. While Kai and Yugito didn't understand why, they followed Naruto and Gaara, who was now flying parallel to Naruto at a much faster speed than the were previously. A few minutes later they approached the location of where they felt the explosion come from and touched down. Shifting back to human form the four crouched down on the room of the prison complex, panting heavily having not gotten used to flying at such speeds. Kai looked at where they were and coked an eyebrow at Naruto.

"We're breaking into a prison. Does this feel strange to anyone but me?" he asked rhetorically.

"What was that Naruto?" Yugito asked the black clad boy, ignoring Kai.

"As I'm sure Gaara explained earlier before Gaara and I separated from the rest of the group I gave one of them a homing orb, which would tell me where they were so I could find them. She must have blown it up, either by mistake or on purpose. The fact that they're in a prison tells me it was the latter option." A scream that could only come from a small girl jolted Naruto to alert.

"That's Rai." Naruto said before dissolving into chakra vapour, disappearing down a vent nearby. The other three followed suit, following him down the vent.

Inside the prison

"Stop screaming you little bitch, let us get a blood sample. You'll only make it worse for yourself the more you struggle. Your little friends will find that out the hard way." A doctor growled as he was trying to extract a blood sample from the girl who was thrashing around violently.

"This is exactly why I left this place, to get away from people like you." A disembodied voice said as the doctor slumped to the ground unconscious. Blue smoke condensed till Naruto reformed from it. Naruto looked at the shivering girl in front of him. he enveloped her in a hug.

"Rai are you alright?" he asked. Rai opened her teary eyes to see Naruto giving her a hug. Quick as lightning Rai returned Naruto's hug, holding onto him as id he were a lifeline.

"I was so scared, the mean people hurt grandma and Temari and cat boy Kankuro." She sobbed. Naruto patted her back softly till she calmed down.

"Rai where are the others?" he asked just as three others landed on the ground behind Naruto.

"The bad man dragged me from in there." She pointed to the door to their right.

"Come on guys, let's go." Naruto said standing up and taking Rai's hand as they went into the next room.

"We don't want to have the whole village gunning for us so no one is to kill anyone. You got it?" after making sure he got three confirmations they twisted the doorknob and went into the next room. The sight that greeted them was unpleasant, Kazumi was out cold on the stone floor with Gaara's siblings trying to get to her though the bars of the cell the were in their clothes all ruffled up as if they had been in a fight.

"Hey doc you got the - wait a minute, who the hell are you and how'd you get here?" the Geko masked Anbu yelled. Naruto stared at the Anbu, moulding some of Hitomi's chakra to his eyes, changing them from blue to red with black slitted pupils. Making eye contact with the Anbu Naruto snarled.

"The second you laid a hand on these people, I became your worst nightmare." He snarled, sending a controlled amount of Hitomi's KI to the Anbu. The masked nin fell to the floor, convulsing violently. Kai who had gone to deal with the sitting Anbu not too far away returned seconds after carrying their items the Anbu had taken and locked up.

"Yugito get them out of that cell," Kai tuned to Temari and Kankuro who were bleeding slightly. "You two might want to stand back." The two cell occupants backed away to the far wall as Yugito started to mould Nibi's chakra.

"Cat's Hell Fire." she called as dark red flames exploded from her mouth. The flames licked the metal bars once before the metal turned to slush on the floor.

"Ok, now that that's done we can get out of here." Kai said as Kankuro and Temari stepped over the steaming puddles of boiling metal.

"One of us will have to carry Kazumi, Kai you're it. Where'd they take Gobi, do you know?" Gaara asked. His siblings shook their heads dumbly as they looked at Gaara in astonishment. Gaara's sand mask crumbled off and pouted when they didn't move.

"What's with the looks, I'm not a psycho you know." he sulked. Less than a second later Temari was hugging Gaara tightly.

"I missed you, sister." He whispered as he hugged her back.

"Arg, this is so annoying.." Yugito growled out, almost gagging at the sight of the hugging pair.

"Oi chill out Yugito, there's no need to get so aggravated. Gaara, Kai you take these four and head for Wave like we originally planned. Yugito you're coming with me, we have to find Gobi." Naruto ordered. He turned to face Gaara, giving him a look. Gaara noticed the look and sand collected on his face to form his mask.

"And just why the hell do I have to listen to you." She snapped. She audibly gulped when Naruto gave her a blank stare, his crystal blue eyes boring into hers. That stare was scary.

"I don't trust you to behave yourself without me nearby. Hitomi told me not too long before Gaara, Kai and I found you that Nibi was sex starved and the seal binding the two of you together is rather crap so your thoughts are not all your own. For that reason I have to keep an eye on you. Besides all that, if I brought either of those instead," he pointed to Kai and Gaara." Gobi would go nuts with rage like he did when he met Gaara for the first time. Hitomi said that Gobi didn't like Shukaku or Sanbi all that much." He said smartly wist Gaara shivered at the memory. Yugito glared at him for a moment before nodding her head in resignation.

"I hope that's not the only thing you'll keep your eyes on." She said suddenly. She slapped her hand over her mask where her mouth was, her eyes wide in horror.

"See what I mean?" Naruto asked whist giving a nod to the other two boys they led the free captives out of the building.

"Remember not to get caught. I don't want to be coming out of here hot you understand? I don't want any of us being seen by anyone, that's why I'm bringing Yugito with me. Let's go." he ordered.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Yugito asked sulking silently.

"NO." said the three boys, Yugito just grumbled. They turned to the room they came from and went through the vesting.

Outside

Naruto and Yugito were slinking through the shadows of the seemingly empty streets of Konoha.

"This'll take forever at this rate." Grumbled Yugito. Naruto stopped walking, causing Yugito to falter.

"We have been found." Naruto said turning to Yugito.

"How can you tell?" she asked him.

"Simple, this is a ninja village, the most powerful out of all the elemental countries and we haven't run into anyone. Besides that it is way too quiet, even if it is the middle of the night there should be activity from night watching ninja. We have been expected, there's no other explanation. We should hurry, we don't know what Konoha's game it yet and we shouldn't stick around long enough to find out."

"Hidden Snake Hands." Called a voice. Several blackish snakes wrapped around Naruto's torso, arms and legs constricting him.

"I told you we were being followed." He said to Yugito before turning to where the snakes were coming from.

"Who are you and what are you doing in this village?" snapped a purple haired kunoichi. She had a trench coat on that was swaying side to side giving an eye full of a fishnet body suit with a mini skirt.

"Not that it's any of your business miss but we're here for some private matters concerning me and a few friends of mine. I do have a name but my enemies often refer to me as the Chakra Demon. May I ask who you are before we leave? You seem interesting." Naruto asked calmly. The kunoichi scowled at him

"You're very polite for a demon. Fine I'll tell you, only because you'll be dead afterwards. My name is Anko Mitarashi." The snakes wrapped around Naruto grasping him hard, supposedly squeezing Naruto to death. Anko had a crazy bloodthirsty smile on her face while she was doing this.

"Miss Anko I feel like I must inform you," Naruto said his voice now serious. "That such an attack won't work on me." Naruto said, his body exerting a almost invisible orange glow. Next thing Anko knew nine translucent orange tails ripped through her snakes. Anko stared wide eyed at the sight in front of her. This midget, who sounded and looked no older then 7 tore through her snake grapple. Naruto stared at Anko, seemingly peering into her soul.

"You're a very lonely and scared person Anko. Don't be afraid to live life, there's only one ride and in this world life is such a fragile thing to hold onto. I know this because I lived the same as you did not too long ago. Seek me out if you want to live life instead of act it." Then he and Yugito vanished leaving a stupefied Anko.

Gaara, Kai, Rai, Kankuro and Temari stalked in the shadows of the surrounding buildings with Kai carrying the unconscious prone form of Kazumi on his back.

"Kai do you see a way out of here?" Gaara asked the older boy.

"Due to it being the middle of the night the number of ninja patrolling the gates should be at a minimum. This would also be because everything between the elemental counties is rather peaceful so there wouldn't be a high need for the village to be guarded." They were silent for a few more moments.

"Gaara, where are we going?" Kankuro asked curiously yet his voice still had a hesitant quality in it.

"We're headed out of Fire country first of all or at least out of this village. Then we'll probably go though Tea country. When we find a place to call home, we want to be able to keep track of whose going to be where in the village that will be erected. Although, if I know Naruto at all we'll probably take refuge on one of the islands between Water and Sea country. There's a small mass of land that sticks out from Fire country, we should head there because it's the closest point to the island. We'll steal a boat to get there probably." Kai said contemplatively, answering Kankuro.

"Which direction is it?" Gaara asked.

"South from here." Was the reply.

"So it in the opposite direction that we're going in." there was total silence. Not even the sound of crickets chirping was heard.

"…crap."

"Hey you 5, what the heck are you doing out at this time of night." An Anbu called to them.

"Double crap." They all caroused as they bolted in the other direction.

"This is Cat to all units, we have intruders in the village, I repeat we have intruders in the village." she said into a hidden headset. Gaara and the group were running like crazy.

"This isn't good, Naruto isn't going to be happy about this, we got found out and they'll close off all exits, hindering any chances of escape we had." Gaara said worriedly.

"We need a distraction, something to throw them off out trail." Kai said out of the blue. Gaara stepped back a few metres before channelling his chakra.

"Split Form Jutsu."** Gaara's** body split into four identical copies of himself.

"Draw the attention to any and all ninja following us but do not attack them." The three forms of Gaara grave a nod and dashed into the four other directions.

"That should buy us quite a bit of time. We need a new plan Kai, any ideas?" Gaara asked.

"Well we can't get caught that's for sure. That only leaves us with a few options; we can't fight our way out so that's out of the question. The only option left open to us is to hide till the heat dies down, that or we can find and trail Naruto and Yugito." He thought out loud.

"I like that option, lets do that." Rai piped up. Kai shot her a withering look.

"One thing that was quickly established between all of us when we left our hell holes was that Naruto's word was law, officially or otherwise, no matter how young he is. I think that it has something to do with the standing of the tailed beasts we hold, since he holds the most powerful and the one that demands respect we unconciously give it to him. But since he isn't here I think that under the circumstances we got ourselves into I think he'll understand. Little girl when you were taken who took Gobi from you?" Kai asked Rai.

"A one armed man with his face bandaged. He had a cross scar on his chin. And my name is Rai not little girl." Rai answered. Gaara side glanced at Kai.

"What do you think Kai?" Gaara asked the other demon container.

"There's strength in numbers, let's find Miss catty and Naruto." Kai said.

'I hope that things will work out, I wouldn't want to be Kai when Naruto finds out. He may be the eldest among us containers but against Naruto that's meaningless.' The red head thought as they moved onwards with Kai and Gaara in the lead, Kankuro and Temari behind them and Kazumi and Rai at the back.

"We have intruders in the village, spread out and search. Remember we don't know what we're dealing with here so everybody be on your guard." A leaf nin said as a small group leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Naruto scowled when he heard this.

"For Kami's sake! I give them one instruction and they can't even follow one as simple as stay out of sight." He growled.

"Not everybody has stealth skills like you Naruto. Your skills at staying out of sight were one of the skills that saved me life as we left Cloud."

Flashback

Yugito was sprawled out on the cold wet floor of an ally in Cloud Village crying as quietly as she could, if she was found then it would spell doom for her. The ninja that the Raikage had entrusted to watch over her weren't anywhere nearby, hey had abandoned her, just like everybody else. She had hidden herself in the slums of Cloud after the former Raikage had been overthrown, that was three weeks ago and she wasn't fairing very well. Her clothes were torn and stained red with blood and she was severely dehydrated and extremely hungry.

"Come on out you little bitch, you can't stay hidden forever. When I find you I'm going to enjoy breaking you into a fine weapon for Cloud, or maybe I'll just have dome _fun_ then kill you. While you live no one will accept you or love you. The only reason the Raikage hasn't called a cat hunt on you s because he thinks that you can become a weapon for Cloud, it's the only reason the new Raikage has let you live this long." A crazed Cloud ninja called after her. Yugito peeked out from where she was hiding, seeing an empty ally she sighed.

'He's finally gone.' She thought with relief.

"I found you, cat whore." The voice of her oppressor came from above her. She shrieked as he drew a kunai but stopped as she heard the nin sag to the ground with a dead thud.

"It's not nice to pick on kids sir, especially one such as this." A young voice sounded in the ally. The Cloud nin grunted as he struggled to get to his feet.

"Show you self!" he yelled only to crash to the ground again, this time a burn mark appearing on his back, as if he was pushed to the wet floor.

'I didn't even see anything touch him. If he's here to hurt me I'm as good as dead.' She thought as she saw the nin in front of her groan in pain. In the corner of her eye Yugito saw a shadow near her grow darker; taking a defined shape till a person dressed in black was standing in front of her. It took her a moment to realise that the person in front of her was her hight, or thereabouts.

"Are you ok? Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you. My names Naruto Uzamaki what's yours?" Naruto asked.

"…what do you want?" she asked edgily, not answering his question.

"Believe it or not, I want to help you. It doesn't take a genius to see that you're miserable here in Cloud. I mean your hiding in a back ally. That and you look like you've been though hell." Naruto said seeing the edginess in her voice.

"It's not my fault; everybody fears and hates me and won't come near me. I heard someone say a few weeks ago that I might maim them if the chance came." She said huffily. Naruto took a thoughtful stance for a moment.

"Do you know why your treated like you are?" Naruto asked.

"It has something to do with Nibi, the two tailed cat demon that was rumoured to have been captured by the last Kage of Cloud." She replied while slowly trying to get away from him.

"That's a very interesting tale isn't it, container of Nibi?" Yugito stared at the dark abyss that was Naruto's mask in total shock before Naruto shot a burst of demonic chakra at Yugito. Yugito slumped to the ground. Two other figures emerged from the shadows. Just before she blacked out she heard someone speak to Naruto.

"Did you really have to do it like that Naruto?"

"Nibi's probably been sleeping the whole time she's been sealed in this girl here. I had to wake her so that the demon could meet the host. She didn't tell me her name, she's way too edgy, and I think that Nibi will help clear that. Boy will Nibi be pissed. Let's get out of here." He let out a semi evil cackle making the boys sweat drop.

End Flashback

"Ok so I might have set the bar a bit high for them but they have Kazumi sensei and Rai with them as well as Gaara's brother and sister and none of them could last in a decent fight if we get caught in this village. If the village council of old bats gets a hold of even one of us we'll be drafted as a human weapon like Cloud was planning for you."

"How do you know that? You sound like you know that from experience." Yugito asked sceptically.

"When I lived here, 3 years ago a guy came to the Hokage requesting that I be placed in an organisation called Root. As it turns out Root is a group of ninja under the direct command of a guy that doesn't like the Hokage. Speaking of the Hokage we have to make an unscheduled stop at the Hokage's office. He's been hiding something from me from the very start. I need to collect that info before I leave here for what I'm hoping is the last time for a long, long time." They travelled in silence for a few moments.

"How much power do you think Gobi will have recovered in the time that you've fought those Akatsuki guys? Maybe we can find him easier if he were recovered." Yugito asked all of a sudden.

"He should have recovered about 2 and a half tails by now. I wish I had his nose, finding him would be a cinch. This is so annoying." Naruto said irritably.

"Well think of it this way, if they're sending men to the gates, we might be able to find Gobi easier. We don't need an escape till we have him." she said trying to lighten up the mood.

"I suppose but I still don't have to like it." He said getting up from his crouched position, Yugito following his example.

Lab somewhere in Konoha

An aggravated growl echoed in the dark room, a scientist threw a medical instrument carelessly at the side with excessive force. The scientist turned to face the only other person in the room with him.

"We've been at this for there days straight, what the heck does that moron expect us to do with this mutt. There's no way that we can replicate any traits from it, any human that comes in contact with anything we try will reject it, weather they are a shinobi or otherwise. Besides that he will break out eventually, the seal that was placed in this room by that treacherous snake was not met to contain something like this." The white coat exclaimed. Emotionless eyes met the scientist making them flinch.

"For now it holds. This seal was created to contain things such as these; the circumstances are just a little bit different from when that man used it. You will continue or you will die. Don't say such things about your employer, lest you want to die." Was the monotone response the scientist got.

"We aren't dealing with a human experiment; we're talking about extracting power from a freaking tailed beast. It's insane; I don't even remember why I accepted to do this in the first place." The scientist exclaimed.

"Master Danzou employed you because you are the best in the field that he was interested in. he was confident that you were able to find a way to supercharge his Root forces so he can reach his goal."

The Root anbu responded whilst also brandishing a kunai. The scientist nodded calmly going back to his station, the anbu holstered his kunai. The scientist let out a silent sigh of relief but on the inside he was shit scared. When he agreed to do the experiments he was told that any and all advancements would go to benefiting the village. But hearing what was to happen with the results of the experiments signalled a sudden warning bell to ring in his head with a red flashing sign that said 'treason'. It was no secret that Danzou, one of the members of the Konoha council opposed the way that the Hokage ran things in the village and that by having Danzou's Anbu division supercharged with any sort of power from any tailed beasts he might be able to overthrow the Third Hokage. The scientist had though that the results would be used to better prepare themselves for an attack by another tailed beast should it ever happen but he was really starting to regret accepting. Even though the scientist had been against the Third for letting the nine tails live after the final battle the Fourth, he respected him. He was a fair leader and wasn't unreasonable which was more than he could say for Danzou if he ever took the position of Kage in the Leaf village. The scientist's eyes bulged when he felt an explosion of power coming in front of him, from the demon, which was standing up and expelling its potent chakra. The pressure being exerted was so intense that it threatened to crush him.

"Well shit." Was the only thing that was said before both the scientist and the Root anbu were impaled by one of the 5 tails that were now flying around in a non existent wind. The two bodies dropped dead with a thud, a pool of blood pouring underneath them. Retracting his tails Gobi let out a massive roar in triumph of getting free while walking towards the only source of light outside the room, towards freedom.

In the streets of Konoha

The explosion of demonic power attracted the attention of everyone residing in Konoha, military and civilian. Even though the difference of power between this explosion and the nine tails was enormous the power that was being generated right now did nothing to quell the fear that was spreading through the village. Without a word Naruto leaped in the direction of the sound where the power serge was coming from, Yugito high on his heels.

"Well that blows my theory of him having only 2 and a half tails of power right out of the water." Naruto muttered. Yugito said nothing as she followed Naruto. Across the village Gaara, Kai, Temari, Kankuro and Rai turned to the direction of the sound, which in turn woke Kazumi from her unconscious state. Lifting her head from the shoulder that her head was laying on she looked around at her surroundings. Looking around her she found that she was slung over someone's shoulder, someone that she didn't know looking at the others around her she let out a sigh of relief to see Rai and the two sand siblings. Before she could say anything Kai spoke.

"Miss Kazumi your awake, good can you stand?" he asked. Nodding slightly Kai bent down to let her stand. One she got her bearings she gave a sharp look at Kai and Gaara.

"It's been a while Gaara, how are you and Naruto?" she asked. Gaara removed his mask, looking at Kazumi.

"We're fine Kazumi; we found the ones we were looking for. This is Kai the vessel for the three tailed turtle and the other is Yugito the vessel of the Nibi, the two tailed cat. We were headed to meet you at Wave when Naruto said that you were in the Leaf village. So we came here we broke you out of the cell you were in. Now were headed towards the origin of the sound where undoubtedly Naruto and Yugito are headed. We can't leave this place without Gobi, no matter how much that flea bitten mutt wants to rip me to pieces. That and we don't have a snowball chance in hell of getting out of this village without Naruto's help. When we went to get Yugito from Lightning country he was practicing with honing his control over his chakra to an even finer degree. Hitomi and he had discovered a fatal weakness he has while they were refining his control over her power. You see-"

"This is not the time or the place to get off track to discuss vital information of Hitomi's vessel's weaknesses; there are ears everywhere that have the sole purpose to harm him, that's why he left. We need not arm these people with the knowledge to kill him." the teen scolded Gaara. Gaara pouted, the action going unnoticed by all but Kazumi and Rai, the latter starting to giggle at the face. Eldest of the group cleared her throat gaining the groups attention.

"We have little time to dawdle. We won't be able to regroup with Naruto if we miss the chance. You kids go retrieve Gobi, I have some business in the Hokage's office." Before anybody could say anything, Rai and Kazumi disappeared in front of their eyes. Kai rubbed his hand through his dark hair.

"Can anyone do as their told? What the hell am I supposed to do now?" he muttered.

"We continue to find Gobi; if nothing else we have to get him out of here." Gaara said. Kai eyed him curiously when the red head fell to his knees, clutching hid side.

"Their getting closer, one of my decoys was destroyed. It's a new technique that I put into practice but I did not expect to feel pain at the forceful dispersion of the copy." Gaara said as he gathered himself, Temari helping him up. In the near distance they heard the shouting of Leaf anbu.

"We don't have time to wait around here, we have to move. Once we find Naruto and Yugito we'll collect everybody. After that we'll make a bee line to get out of Fire Country, the longer we spend in Fire Country the more danger we'll be in and I'm sure that if he were here Naruto would agree with me." Gaara said with a hushed voice. He got three nods in response before departing their present location, quickly.

Naruto and Yugito touched down in front of a cellar door in the side street of an unrecognisable building. It had taken a fair bit but they were able to track down the origin of the geyser of power Gobi released. Naruto scowled, the power the mutt had released had put the village at full alert, making leaf ninja run around the place like rabid animals.

"We have to hurry this up, there's no telling how much time we'll have to find Gobi and get out of here before Konoha nin track the source of the explosion here, or worse yet, the Hokage himself. Though that old man might have protected me in the past; his position as a Kage makes the safety of the village the highest priority making my life forfeit. I'm nowhere near strong enough to take on a Kage, in a few years maybe but defiantly not now. Naruto grabbed hold of one of the cellar doors and wrenched it open. He waved Yugito in.

"Ladies first, oh but you aren't a lady yet are you?" he said as he and Yugito descended below ground.

"Cat's Hell Fire." Naruto side glanced at Yugito.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked.

"I got a little anxious; I hate the dark, especially when it's in enclosed spaces." She said defensively. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"If it makes you feel better you can hold me hand." He replied dryly. He almost squeaked in surprise when she did just that. Naruto stared at her for a second in shock; this was a side of Yugito he had never seen. Granted that she had only been with them a short time but it still amazed him. He noted that she had started shivering and began to mumble incoherently. He was so caught up in this new development he spaced out for a moment. Silently cursing himself for losing fucus he cast a look at his claustrophobic companion, not sure of what to do.

'_**Don't just stand there like a fool, say something that will comfort her.'**_This time Naruto did jump, he hadn't head from Hitomi for quite a bit of time, assuming that she went to sleep soon after they departed Lightning Country but couldn't ascertain the reason for it. Deciding to act on her advice he gave the hand that Yugito has clutching a reassuring squeeze. The blonde haired girl looked at him confused.

"Everything's going to be ok Yugito. You-" he started to say but was cut off by the echo of a dog bark. The bark also snapped Yugito out of her trance. She seemed to shed all traces of her phobia and snatched her hand out of his grasp.

"Lets get going, we're wasting time standing around here like idiots." She said as she moved down the tunnel. Naruto let a genuine smile sneak across his face.

'It's nice to have the old Yugito back.' He thought as he dashed to catch up with her. For the next two minutes they were running in silence in near pitch black till Naruto slammed Yugito to the wall suddenly. She was about to swear up a storm when she saw they Naruto was standing in front of her, his chakra tails flailing around the small space. He was standing in front of her in such a way that she couldn't see whatever was in front of the male blonde

"There you are Gobi; we've come to get you out of here." Naruto said somewhat happily. Gobi, for his part ignored the fact that he was being spoken to and charged at the two demon containers. Naruto's tails entrapped Gobi in a red translucent cocoon, the dog demon thrashing all the while in his confines.

'What the hell is wrong with him?' he asked himself in wonder.

'_**He's in a demonic rage. Demons get into those if their lives are in danger. When in that state demons can unleash 100 of all their power in to an unstoppable force that only other demons can fight off. Until he runs out of energy will he stop, until then he'll act like a natural disaster, completely unstoppable. You need to get out of here into the open and quickly, your tails cannot hold him confined for long, they are already to starting to falter.' **_Not wasting any time Naruto took hold of Yugito and pulled her with him in the direction that they had come in. mere seconds later Gobi snapped free of his restraints, snarling in his direction and hurling his tails towards Naruto and Yugito. Grunting Naruto shoved Yugito out of the way as the tails slammed through his body, dirt rising as they smacked into the concrete behind him. Naruto held his head in pain as the tails retracted.

"Damn it…Yugito forget what I said, I'll keep him busy but you have to find Gaara and bring Kazumi here, she can help me calm him down but I can't hold him for long. Go!" she ran

'Great, just great; what the hell am I supposed to do, I don't have any techniques that can deal any damage to demons or corporal forms of chakra and I doubt that he'll let me get close enough do deal any blows…' he thought as he evaded a charge from the enraged canine but left himself open for Gobi's tails to strike him again. The mask wearing boy grunted as he caught the flying appendage. Regardless of what Hitomi had told him he had to keep the fight here, he didn't want it getting outside in the open not because it might kill some Leaf nin and civilians but because the less the Leaf saw of his fighting the better, that and if any of his group got hurt he'd never live with himself.

'My only chance is to try get in close,' he saw one of Gobi's tails swinging toward his neck. 'This is going to hurt.'

With Yugito

Yugito was running frantically towards the south gate. In the not too far distance she saw the same kunoichi that they had run into before, Anko if she remembered. She shook her head vigorously to clear her head, she couldn't get distracted, Naruto was counting on her. It didn't take her long to get to the south gate however she did have to use up a lot of her and Nibi's chakra to get there as fast as he did. She scouted the immediate vicinity for any sighs of her group. Scowling furiously she headed back towards where she had left Naruto. She smacked herself mentally; they wouldn't have stayed here after feeling the power that Gobi released. She should have just stayed with Naruto and helped him out. She surveyed the village as she backtracked to her previous location. She saw man and woman, shinobi and civilian alike running around like headless chooks. She would have laughed at the sight had she not been so desperate to find those that Naruto had told her to find. As she came across the area that Naruto and herself had let that Anko woman she found that she was gone; Yugito surmised that she had grasped what exactly that power was and went to investigate.

Elsewhere

The Hokage's office was vacant, with only shadows and a small stack of papers in the room. Silently, two figures slipped out of the shadows nearest to a window. The smaller figure sauntered around the window while the taller one loomed over the desk.

"Now if I was that old man of a Hokage where would I place such lucrative information?" Kazumi asked herself. As if answering her question, one of the portrait photo's of the previous Hokage's on the side wall seemed to move. Kazumi smirked slightly.

"Old monkey you are just a smart as you are old." She said with a tut. Skulking over to the photo of the Yellow Flash of Konoha she lifted the portrait away from the wall revealing an intricate seal on the wall. She started to examine the seal when Rai broke her out of her trance.

"Grandma something's going on outside. Its holding this whole place in fear." She said worriedly. Indeed Kazumi had felt the geyser of power that Gobi was churning out and she guessed that it was one of the only reasons that this office was empty. She again looked at he seal on the wall and she found out half a moment later that it was a blood seal and though it was crafted well it wasn't created well enough for people such as herself to get passed it. She ran her fingers over the markings for a moment before she stepped back and crept over to the lone desk in the room. She went to the bottom draw of the desk and opened it, finding it full of envelopes and stamp pads. Shifting all the junk to the side she say a hidden seal that was used to hold items, after destabilising this seal she watched as the seal crumbled away, a poofing with a small plume of smoke indicating that the unsealing had gone well. She lifted the object out of the draw and piled everything back into it before closing the draw again, careful not to leave any trace of her tampering with it. She looked at the object and opened it, thumbing through it till she found what she was looking for. She squeezed a portion of the opened object and watched with a satisfied smirk as liquid seeped from it. After that was done she tossed the object aimlessly away it landing on the desk with a dull thump. Eying the red liquid on her finger she walked back to the seal on the wall and wiped it onto the middle of the seal. Seconds later the seal disappeared, in its place was a safe with a combination lock. This time she scowled, she was no good with combination locks; it was a skill that she had neglected to learn when she was a youngster.

"Rai come here, I have a job for you," the elderly woman said to her grand daughter. Rai's ears perked up at hearing this. "I want you to get passed this combination lock for me please, I'm afraid that I do not have the experience to get passed it." She asked calmly. Kazumi smiled as her grand daughter got right to work. One of Rai's most amazing talents was espionage and thievery and she could dance circles around any security device. Kazumi was to this day unsure where she had learnt such a skill but she realised that it had come in handy when their living situation in Grass got dire. Whilst Rai was fiddling with the dial she was humming tunelessly to herself and Kazumi found her mind wondering back to her tutoring days, Rai just had that ability to have someone loose themselves in their pasts whenever she started to hum tunelessly. She was caught of guard when Rai started shaking her arm.

"…Grandma….Grandma! I did it, see?" Rai said excitedly, clapping her hands madly with glee. Kazumi ruffled her grand daughter's hair in thanks walking back to the now open safe. She procured the contents of the safe and glanced at it for a moment before nodding her head in assurance that these were the real deal she dug her hand into her pocket retrieving a small envelope. She placed the envelope into the safe and closed it and watched as the safe disappeared and the blood seal reappeared on the wall. After placing the photo frame back onto the wall she slipped the files that she just obtained into her cloak, it wouldn't be any good of the information were to be damaged would it? She as about to say they were about to leave when she caught the concerned look on Rai's face.

"Grandma… I think that Naruto might be in trouble." Her voice etched with worry. Kazumi looked in the direction that Rai was looking and focused. She saw what she assumed was Gobi at full power and another human shaped blob of chakra that was flickering, bits of it growing pale blue before changing back to normal. She watched in astonishment as Gobi tripped Naruto over and went to slam him into the dirt for a critical strike. She averted her gaze from the scene; she didn't need to see more. She turned her head to the pile of papers on the desk, grabbed a brush and the bottle of ink at the side of the table, picked up a sheet of paper from the stack, flipped it over and began to write symbols for a suppression seal. the book thatsat on the desk to he side of her glistened in the darkened room. sparing another glance at the orange book she set it alight with a small Fire jutsu. Satisfied she began working on crafting a seal.

'If this doesn't work I have one other idea but I'm not sure weather it will work on Gobi because he's a demon…'

Elsewhere in the village

There were few things that Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha was afraid of. These things being the destruction of the village hidden among the leaves, invasions that could lead to the first reason and finally an attack by another tailed beast. The Hokage was currently roof hopping towards the origin of the explosion of demonic power. It was his responsibility to, at the cost of his life; protect the village that he led. He took a glance behind him, noting the riots that were occurring due to the presence of another demon within the village walls. The Hokage grunted as he continued forth, the closer he got to the power geyser the harder it was for him to keep his focus. He assumed it was because of the crushing power that the demon was exerting. Sarutobi briefly wondered how in hell Minato was able to stand up to the Kyuubi 7 years ago when its power was flailing madly. The aged shinobi shook his head of that thought, it wouldn't do him any good to get distracted at a time like this where a split seconds worth of inattentiveness could cost him his life. It s hard for him to keep focus because he was still fretting over just_ how_ he was going to go about beating a demon, he was no sealing expert and he couldn't perform the Reaper Death Seal to seal the demon away.

Having almost reached the point of origin the Hokage put on his 'game face', ready for a fight that he was sure that he would never forget.

Arriving at the location that he'd sensed the demon in, he found that the immediate surroundings were still standing, if not shaken up by the shockwave of demonic power just moments ago.

'It must be below ground…great…' thought the Hokage as he scanned the area for an entrance to where he could engage the demon. He was caught of guard when something shot out of the ground sailing up in the air with the force of a cannon blast. Almost immediately after that however he saw a dark brown stream of chakra aimed towards the figure that was still flying upwards. By sheer luck he was able to avoid another brown stream of chakra that burst from the ground behind him. The Third started to flash through some hand signs to use a fire jutsu when a voice from above stopped him.

"You old fool, he's a corporal manifestation of chakra and jutsu are ineffective against him. He needs to be calmed, right now he's as mad as a woman in labor at her husband. Neither of us will survive if he continues his rampage like this. Chakra Style: Drilling Bullet." An intense blue orb shot down into the ground from one of the open holes, a whimper along with a snarl was the only response that either of them got to show that the attack did anything. Sarutobi looked up at the black clad figure, which seemed to just_hang_ in the air, burst into smoke. Passing it off as a clone dispersion he was caught of guard when the smoke started to talk.

"Fine then, if you didn't like that then try this. Chakra Style: Piercing Comet." And true to its name, it came down to he ground exactly like a comet only that this comet was blue and it was far smaller. The 'comet' slipped into one of the holes in the ground. Not wanting to be left out the Third jumped down after the 'comet', this was his village after all. Having sensed his arrival, the demon_swatted_ the Hokage into the wall of the tunnel just fractions of a second after Sarutobi descended into the tunnel.

"Why the hell did you come down here you old coot? I have everything under control." The black clad person snapped as he grabbed hold of the tail that was closing in on them and _pulled_it, eliciting a yelp of pain from the tailed beast.

"Really I don't understand you people. You barely survived the attack of the last tailed beast that was here and you go and try to _capture_ another one. Your either really brave and stupid or just really, really stupid." The black wearing guy said as he and the Hokage dodged another set of gabs from the demons tails.

"Hey watch you mouth brat, do you have any idea just who I am?" I'm-"

"An idiot, who seems to want to brag about who he is instead of trying to help out, if your not a Seal expert I don't give a damn who you are right now." Realising that this was a small boy, not even near being a preteen was chewing him out; the Hokage jumped out of the tunnel through a hole and started to flash through hand signs, bit his thumb and slammed his hand to the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu." He called. Kanji spread out on the ground and a puff of smoke rose from the dirt. A man sized monkey stood up within the smoke, crossing his arms when he was the Hokage. The monkey was about to open his moth when the Hokage pushed it out of the way as another tail spiked through the ground where they were standing.

"Sorry Enma but this isn't a social call, Theresa demon attacking here right now and I need you in staff form." Sarutobi said to the summon. Enma glanced down the hole to where the demon was, he cocked his brow at the Hokage.

"What did you do to have the 5 tailed dog demon Gobi to attack here?" Enma asked as he transformed like he was asked.

"You know Enma I'm not quite sure myself." The aged man replied as he grasped the staff and descended down the hole into the tunnel again.

"Where the hell did you go off to you old bag of bones." Asked the shrimp wearing black as he grabbed and pulled another tail; earning him another snarl of anger from the demon. Having been fighting in the dark Gobi couldn't _see_ where he was mindlessly throwing his appendages but having one of his tails pulled made him send his other tails towards his captive tail. The Third looked on in horror as the tails seemed to puncture him, the Hokage realised however that no blood came from the puncture. Sarutobi gripped the staff in his hand tightly and wist going towards the now inanimate tails brought his staff down in a downward chop. The demon's howl of pain after that was deafening.

"Ha. Maybe you are good for something after all." The Hokage's _ally_ said as they leant up against the tunnel wall. Sarutobi shrugged off the statement, there were more important matters at hand and he didn't have time to scold this brat for his lack of manners.

"If we keep fighting down here we'll be killed." The Hokage said as he evaded a jab from a homing tail.

"This isn't where I wanted to fight him either, I didn't want to fight him at all but he isn't himself at the moment. The only reason were fighting down here is because, not that I want to prevent this village from being destroyed by him; I just don't want people seeing me fight. It's too early to be found out yet." The Hokage didn't even get a chance to say anything in reply when he sensed two people hop down through one of the holes above and throwing a piece of paper at the dog demon's head. The paper hit its head with a slap, a seal shined on it, telling the Hokage that it had been activated.

"Everybody look away, quickly!" ordered someone from behind him. For all his skill the Hokage wasn't able to react quickly enough and he was momentarily blinded by the light that the seal was giving off. Before Sarutobi passed out he registered that there were four others that had joined them in the tunnel, two wearing masks, one with blonde hair and the other what he believed to be a giant black cat standing on its hind legs.

"Grab Gobi and lets go, we've overstayed our welcome."

"What about him?" Gaara asked looking at the unconscious village leader.

"Leave him, he's just unconscious. We have to leave now while the village is in disarray. This time everyone stays together, I mean it this time." Everyone present gave an affirmative nod at hearing his 'I'm not taking no for an answer' tone before they left the area. It wasn't hard for them to sneak out of the village, with the strife that the civilians were making the ninja on duty didn't even notice them, that and the ANBU were trying to locate their leader.

* * *

AN: There you have it, folks. this is by far the most I have written, ever. 

If there is any spelling or grammar errors let me know, this was quite a lot to edit.

I have to apologize if the opening was a bit confusing but it was the only way that i could write it.

I understand that i'm probably going to have people flaming me for the time it took me to update. I am however hoping that most of the reviews will be positive, it makes me feel good to know that you enjoy my writing. i might rewrite a part of this chapter and repost it again anyway.

If you have any suggestions, questions or queries please don't hesitate to submit them.

R&R


	9. Plan

AN: Hello everyone!

Before anyone says anything about why i haven't updated, there is a good reason!

I am currently going through year 12 and I've been a little behind with my work, so basically the reason that its taken so long to update is because i've had a hard time getting the time to type it.

But I'm finally up to date with my work and writing again. Hopefully there won't be a 6 month wait for the next 1.

Once again I apologise profusely about the long wait and I'm hoping that you guys and girls will find it in your hearts to forgive me.

* * *

Naruto stared at the wetlands of the country where his contact was said to reside in.

Naruto stared at the wetlands of the country where his contact was said to reside. He had sent the others back towards Sea country whilst he lingered in Water country; he was certain that nothing bad would befall his group; after all it had been 1 ½ years since they had been together and they had grown incredibly strong in their chosen fields. He was tense however he was in a potentially hostile environment with no foreknowledge of the workings of its people. There was another reason, in which Kazumi had called him paranoid over but he chose to ignore that bit of information.

"Dad come on, stop spacing out on me. You have to stay focused remember? I can see your outline smoking." Naruto glanced at the little girl clutching hid hand, her pale eyes big and lavender, his mind wandered back to when they had found her and decided to take her with him.

Flashback

Naruto, Yugito Gaara and Kai were carrying the non trained persons of their group on their backs with Gobi under Naruto's arm whilst he used two tails to hold his passengers in place on his shoulders. Naruto grunted lowly, his body pulsing in pain as a whole as he went; he needed to replenish the chakra that he was using to keep his physical manifestation. He had the idea to slow down and stop for a few moments so he could undergo this task when Hitomi's voice sounded through his head.

'**Kit something is wrong, concentrate some chakra into your ears so I can be sure of it.'** she commanded. Suppressing another grunt of pain he did as he was told and moulded chakra into his ears, what he heard made him slow to a standstill. Looking back the there three looked at their leader, despite his age he did contain the ruler of those that reside in them and they would not dispute that, they were honour bound to follow him.

"Hey Naruto is something wrong?" Gaara asked puzzled at his friends actions.

"I have to go somewhere right now, take these three and hide somewhere till I return." He dumped Gobi onto the branch he was on and set the two under his arms, Temari and Rai gently next to the large dog.

"The Leaf village at the moment is running damage control because of Gobi's rampage, you should be safe till I return." Without another word Naruto shimmered out of sight. The three demon containers looked at the mist that Naruto left behind.

"He must be in pain from having fought Gobi like he did. Be safe Naruto." Gaara said as he saw the mist dissipate after a few Naruto flew through the wind he couldn't help but ask.

'Hitomi what's going on, what was that noise, why are you making me go after it?' he asked hastily, trying to keep from losing focus and not fairing too well at that.

'**That kit is the sound of a small child, one that isn't any more than 2 to 3 years old crying. A child crying so far out of the village like this isn't normal. Granted Gobi's rampage did spark quite a lot of fear but this isn't because of that. Whoever the child is, they are in a great deal of turmoil.' **She said making Naruto raise an eyebrow, how did she know that sound so intimately? Closing in on the source of the wailing Naruto realised what this meant.

"Someone is using the strife caused by Gobi's rage to sneak someone out of the village!" he said out loud in realization, his focus slipping a bit, his outline smoking a bit more then before.

'**One, stop the child thief. Two find out where he was going with them and three dispose of them and bring the kid with us. whoever it is they won't be able to stay out here and we cannot wait for anyone to come along and collect the kid and we certainly can't take them back. Afterwards we can start the filtering of chakra to get you back to fighting condition. This means you will have to take whoever it is out quickly. If you can steal some as well, steal a lot. Stay focused you're oozing chakra!' **Hitomi ordered. Giving his mental acknowledgment he flew past tree after tree.

Several moments later Naruto was in range to see who it was that was fleeing the village. A dark green haired ninja with a Chuunin vest with black ninja pants and matching ninja sandals could be seen running with what Naruto identified as the child in a tumble of sheets, blood stains splotched over parts of it. Naruto eyed the obvious rogue Leaf ninja, specifically his weapons pouches on his thighs. Finally deciding on a course of action Naruto sped forward and, in his non physical form punched the ninja in the back of the neck. The effect was instantaneous, Naruto acted accordingly. As the renegade nin fell to the dirt Naruto flew in front of him, catching the sheets and the kid in the gas form that was his body.

Feeling that she was no longer being carried the girl looked around her for what was going on, she felt this warm feeling surround her in a comforting haze. Tears slipping from the side of her eyes and saw that she was floating in the air barely a metre off the ground and the man she had seen just before the feeling of going incredibly fast started. She looed around her again as the 'thing' she was floating on started to move and take shape. She screamed when it started to talk. She, now in this person's arms felt herself being held gently, that then started rocking her side to side.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" the black clad man asked, she started to tremble in fright trying to squirm out of the hold this person held her in. She stopped as she saw the guy on the floor starting to rise from the ground. She looked back at the black man to see that his face had gone misty for a moment before clearing, showing her crystal blue eyes and lines on his cheeks. Looking into his eyes and back to the ninja on the ground, she said the only thing that she could at the moment.

"Help."

Leiko tilted his head to the side, spitting out the soil that was scooped into his mouth when he fell. Just a moment ago he was running off with the girl he'd kidnapped and then he felt a searing burn at the base of his neck just before falling on his face. He tilted his head up to look in front of him to see the most bizarre thing; the girl he had snatched was being help by a boy wearing a black cloak, his outline smoking a little bit producing a light haze around him.

"Hey you put her down!" he called. The child in the boy's arms clutched at the back cloak on the boy's body.

"Hmm, how about…no." was the jaded response he got.

"Heh, it doesn't matter anyway I'll just get up, kill you and take her anyway." He boasted, trying to intimidate whoever this guy was.

"Just how are you going to do that, you can't even move your body. I hit you at the base of your neck so all you can move is your head and mouth." Indeed as much as Leiko tried he could not move any of his limbs.

"Ok now here's how it's going to work, I'll ask you questions and you'll answer them truthfully otherwise unpleasant things will befall you. Question 1, who are you?"

"None of your damn…" he trailed off as he saw and felt his chakra being sucked out of his body and being assimilated into the boy's black figure. he watched as the haze surrounding the boy shrink a little.

"I'll ask again and you better answer correctly, I'm in the need of chakra to repair my body and you're ripe for the taking so you better wizen up. Who are you?" he asked again. Leiko was just about to spit in the guys face, or try to from his position on the ground when the boy put his hand up which started to glow and Leiko felt a pull on his chakra, far stronger than before. as it did before he saw the shroud shrink further.

"I'm a Chuunin from Konoha, my name is Leiko." He said hastily. The glowing hand faded and the pull receded.

"We're finally getting somewhere. Second question: who is this girl?" the voice was calm but the undertone spoke volumes.

"My pay ticket to-ack!" he gasped in pain as he felt the pull, far stronger then both times.

"Tsk Tsk. I meant who she is as in name, age and family. If you want to be left dry with no chakra left to speak of and die from it then it's no big loss to me. Persuade me to let you live by telling me what I want to hear, Leiko." Leiko started to sweat, the extraction of his chakra from his body taking its toll on him.

"Ok already, I'll tell you just don't kill me." He said, desperately trying to buy more time till he found a way out of the situation he was in though with the chakra he had left...

"Then tell me what I want to know." Was the dead tone reply.

"She's the second daughter of the Hyuuga clan head Hiashi Hyuuga, Hanabi Hyuuga age three. When the village was engulfed in mass panic and the Hyuuga clan estate was attacked I stole her from the Village and fled toward Lightning country so I could sell her for valuable techniques," Leiko stared at the imposing figure in front of him, his crystal blue eyes piercing his soul. "I told you everything you wanted to know now please let me go." He pleaded.

"Last question then I'll be out of your way, when is her birthday and don't tell me that you don't know. The Hyuuga clan act and are treated like royalty so the whole damn village should know when the birthday of one of the heirs to this clan is." The statement making Leiko wince.

"It's March 27th." The man craned his neck to see what this guy would do. He answered his questions so he should be let go right? He started to get angry when the guy started to walk away with Hanabi still in his arms.

"Hey wait! You said you'd let me go if I told you what you wanted to know!" he yelled.

"I did and I kept my word, I won't take your life but I can't help you even if I wanted to, my attacks can only be healed by a medic ninja probably. The youngest daughter of the Hyuuga Clan main branch was kidnapped and you have her scent all over you. I hope you either get eaten by the natives in the forest or you bite off your tongue and kill yourself. Either way it's no loss to me. If you do manage to survive till tracking ninja find you and take you back tell them that she will be safe with me." Was the reply he received making him go pale.

"Who are you?" Leiko asked, truly frightened at the prospect of slowly being eaten by forest animals.

"I am the Chakra demon." After those words were said, Leiko's vision clouded and his world descended into darkness.

"He wasn't very smart was he?" Naruto said as he carried Hanabi off and away from the knocked out Leiko. The response from Hanabi was a small yawn making the blonde boy smile.

"Well then, it looks to me like we have ourselves another member for our little group." He said out loud as he backtracked to where he left Gaara and the others, making sure to hold Hanabi securely in his slightly smoking arms.

"Dada." That single word from her made Naruto stop in his tracks.

'She doesn't have a father now; he's back in the Leaf Village.' He thought sadly as he started running again.

'_**That's not the issue here kit and you know it. Its weather or not she is going to grow up with or without a father figure. Normally I'd say that you are too young to raise a kid but you're not alone; other people can help you, mainly me, Kazumi and Yugito. Besides you're a better choice for a father than Kai or Gaara. I'm not even going to suggest that makeup wearing boy. Besides I think she likes you, she called you dadda didn't she?'**_ Hitomi's snickers about Hanabi taking one of his fingers and starting to suck on it made him roll his eyes. The rest of the trip back to the others was spent in silence, or as much silence as possible as Hanabi had whined on occasion on their little journey after Naruto had rescued his finger from her mouth. Naruto however was debating on the decision to take Hitomi's advice on board or leave it up to fate.

End Flashback

He felt a hard jab to his side, or what would have been a jab as he felt it pass through his side.

"Dad _stop_ spacing out." Hanabi snapped, irritated that she had to snap her father out of his reverie, for a second time.

"I'm sorry. I'll keep my mind in the present okay." He said, trying to halt his daughter's fast growing temper. She couldn't actually hurt him but he didn't want her mad at him, she would stop talking to him and that would hurt him more than anything.

"So who is it that we have to find in this place dad?" she asked curiously.

"He's on one of the Bloodline extermination squads that are still mobalised to locate any remaining bloodline users native to Water Country. Don't worry yourself Hanabi I will destroy anyone who even so much as looks at you funny, you're my world and I'll do anything to see to your safety." He said to comfort her as she got scared when he said bloodline extermination squad. Although calmed down Hanabi held onto Naruto tightly to reassure herself that she wouldn't get separated from him. Naruto gazed around him searching with his sense of hearing for a way through the thick, almost bodily grey fog.

"Well we should probably get going, I don't like being in a place where I'm partially blind." He said finally deciding to move on after a moments pause, Hanabi following after him.

'I know that we're being watched, seems to me that wherever 'here' is, requires security.' Red chakra started to leek from his coils producing a semi translucent film of red over his black cloak, it was better for him to be prepared than for him to be caught with his guard down. After a moment's time of navigating by hearing Naruto got annoyed and let a low growl escape his throat. Collecting a fair amount of chakra into his throat he tilted his head skyward and released it upward. Seconds after he interlocked his hands and clapped them shut, the chakra encased air exploded blowing all the fog away. Naruto let out a sigh of success as he started walking again. Hanabi gazed at her father as she walked beside him; he was the epitome of strength in her eyes and didn't want to be anywhere that wasn't with him.

"Dad, can we stop I'm kind of-" a loud grumble came from her belly making her blush and making Naruto laugh.

"Sure thing, we shouldn't be too far away from a town where we can-." Hanabi froze in mid step when she saw the point of a kunai hovering in the air a few inches from her face.

"It seems that I was right, we have been followed. Hanabi come quickly." Naruto commanded. Complying instantly she walked quickly with her father who took off his cloak and wrapped it around her.

"Whatever you do don't take it off till I say so." He said as he looked around him. Narrowing his eyes he charged some chakra into them, his iris colouring his entire eye in a pale blue.

'Where are they…' he thought as he gazed around him. 'Chakra is hanging around this place like a blanket.' The sound of sinister laughing made Naruto's eyes shift to the side, his eyes picking up a flash that had to have been a chakra spike for a jutsu. Naruto's eyes brightened in recognition.

"So this is the infamous Silent Killing technique of the Hidden Mist. It's unfortunate that you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Creation Technique: leech of the damned." Concentrating on the residual chakra in the air from the Mist Technique, Naruto crafted a leech from it, it gleamed a faint blue with the size of a small dog. The leech, with its round head and teeth swerved its head from side to side, not moving from its place. It started to make suction noises, drawing in large amounts of air but instead of air, a pale blue mist was being drawn into its circular mouth.

Hanabi watched in fascination, as her father had just created some worm like creature out of thin air that started to move like it was sucking something in. She saw a hole appear in the creature as it continued to suck in whatever it was that it was leeching on. It pulsed with power, the hole on its body filled with blue energy as it grew in size. It let out a screeching howl as it lunged in her direction making her scream in fear, wrapping her dads cloak around her tightly. She stopped her screaming as she saw it rush right past her and into the marsh behind her. Hesitantly she turned her head to the side to see what had happened. Making sure she had a firm grip on her father's cloak she gazed to where the worm creature now sat, next to a puddle of water. She saw it glow again as it grew in size. She watched as it shifted its head, or mouth to the side and again lunged in another random direction. This time however she saw it get sliced in half halfway through its flight through the air.

Hanabi stared at what cut the creature in two to see a man with camouflage arm warmers, no shirt on with a strap of some sort coming and going to his shoulders and thigh with pants with lines on them. The most identifiable feature however was a mask of white bandages around the face of a man with a headband that was worn at a weird angle. But above all the massive sword in his hands made her identify him as a ninja. Hanabi watched as the two halves of the creature glowed slightly before their bodies sprouted new sides, creating two of the same creature. They turned their mouths towards the swordsman and screeched, moving in closer.

"Unless I dissolve them from the chakra they were sculpted form those mindless leeches will forever seek you out, I created them from residual chakra you left behind from your mist jutsu. Either state your business or be feasted upon." Her father's voice sounded a few metres away.

"You are the real deal aren't you, Chakra demon. You are aptly named." The man said slickly. The snarling of the leeches made his tense up. The bandaged man shifted his gaze to her making her flinch back making the swordsman smirk.

"My name is Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist," snapping his fingers Hanabi saw a girl around the same age as her father come out into the area from the marsh surrounding them. "This is Haku. I want to make a deal with you." He spoke out into the open. Hanabi looked off to the side slightly seeing a shift in the air. In seconds the air folded in on itself and her father appeared in a haze of smoke. Her fathers blonde hair stood on his head in large spikes, the back of it tied in a small ponytail. He wore a dark red shirt with a black pair of ninja pants that matched his coat.

"You've got my attention, if only for the moment. Start talking." She saw him hold out his palms and with a flick, saw the leeches promptly dissolve and travel back to his palms in a shower of blue smoke. she watched as his body seemed to pulse for a moment before turning back to normal.

Zabuza stared at the masked face of the demon in front of him, from the rumours that surrounded this guy he was incredibly intimidating and from that small exchange this guy fights in a whole other league compared to the typical shinobi. He heard what happened 1 ½ years ago in Rain country, about one man that turned the clouds of the country red with blood and seeing the instigator of the incident right in front of him, he had to fight a shiver of fear that threatened to shoot down his spine.

"It is an honour to meet you in person-"

"Cut the crap, there are other peope I need to see and other places I'd rather spend my time than some frog infested cesspool." A ribbit and a splash could be heard off in the distance.

"The Leader of the Hidden Mist is an old paranoid man. The Mizukage does not listen to the people; all he cares about is the might of his village and the strength of his military." Zabuza stared.

"I can only hope your going somewhere with this." The masked boy said casually but Zabuza saw the hidden meaning.

"He is a dictator and needs to be eliminated. We're at the point where I'm sure that if you approached Mist you would be met with hostile force and turned away. If you help me with a coup I will have the entirety of the Hidden Mist in your debt." The Demon of the Bloody mist said boldly.

"What would happen should this turn into a ploy to get the bounty the Amekage placed on my head for butchering the majority of his shinobi populous that one time?" the true demon asked indifferently, his blue eyes peering into his soul like he was seeing into his soul.

"It is Rain's problem to deal with you if they want revenge; all I want is to kill that bastard Mizukage for screwing Mist into the ground." Zabuza watched as the blonde man turned his head to the girls that were now standing off to the side watching them, one with fear in her eyes and the other with adoration.

"We need a place to eat, is there a tow nearby that will give us service, Hanabi is hungry and needs to eat." Naruto said not moving an inch, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the idea Zabuza put forward.

"What about you, don't you eat or do you really eat the dead like they say?" Zabuza quipped.

"Human corpse' tastes disgusting, contrary to popular belief demons don't eat the dead, and we aren't cannibals, well most of us anyway. Hanabi lets go, were going to get you something to eat." Hanabi's eyes brightened considerably.

"There's a town nearby where you can find something to eat. We should get going before any ninja show up to ask questions." Collecting his daughter and Zabuza Haku they vacated the area. Seconds later a pale skinned man appeared in the marshland.

'Everyone's here, let's see how this plays out, kukuku.' They thought before vanishing again.

"So why exactly are you here of all places?" Zabuza said nervously, trying to stir up a conversation with the imposing figure beside him, his daughter tearing into her food with great speed. Her father patted her back firmly when she started to choke, she drank a bit before returning to her food.

"I need to get an audience with the Mizukage; I'd prefer that I don't have to barge into his office like I did with the Kusakage and Amikage a year and a half ago. I'd rather establish good diplomatic relations with my neighbouring countries so that they don't try and go to war with me. There is a contact I have here that would get me that chance. However if the Mizukage is as bad as you say then…" he trailed off, eyeing Hanabi who was ripping dumplings off a stick.

"Say what, are you creating a village or something?" Zabuza said, intrigued at this prospect.

"That's for me to know and you to find out No-Brow. Where're we going after here anyway?" Naruto asked changing the subject from his goal, the less he knew the better off he'd be.

"A place out of sight of the Mizukage, although the Seven Swordsmen are one of the strongest group of shinobi in the Hidden Mist and are 'loyal' to the Mizukage I'm betting that he won't have any quarrels in declaring us traitors to Mist in a split second and even the strongest of ninja can be overwhelmed with large numbers."

"Uh huh and just how many ninja do you have in this group of yours?" Naruto asked, getting to business, if he was going to be a part of this coup then he'd have to know the size of the force he'd be working with so he could adjust how much he should help them.

"The Seven swordsman of the Mist and about two and a half dozen others." Zabuza said seriously.

"You're planning to stage a coup with about 31-37 shinobi? Right, ok I think you've lost it pal. Just how in the world do you suppose you'll kill the Mzukage with such a small force? I doubt you'd be able to rid yourselves of half the Mizukage's forces before you're taken out, no matter how hard you fight." Naruto said with a small laugh.

"But we can hopefully turn the tide and have the odds in our favour with your help." Zabuza pointed out, a hint of hope in his voice that Naruto picked up.

"True but just how much of the fighting do you suppose I'll be doing hmm? This is your coup Momochi not mine and it is no real loss to me weather it succeeds or not, I only have things to gain from helping you and nothing to lose." His statement made Zabuza sideways glance at him.

"But you are going to help, aren't you?" the hopefulness in the older mans voice was starting to irritate the young ninja.

"Don't worry your non existent eyebrows, I'll help you the best I can, I give you my word and I'm honour bound to keep my promises." The group of four paused as a Mist ninja appeared in a plume of smoke in front of them.

"Zabuza three of the Seven swordsman have vanished from the hideout, it is believed that they have fled the country." The statement was quick, the messenger breathing quite hard, making Naruto believe that this guy didn't have a lot of stamina thus making him a bad frontline fighter, probably a chuunin.

"Which three?" Zabuza said alarmed.

"Raiga, Kisame and-."

"Not them, we needed them, especially Fish Face. We have to pick up the pace, the Mizukage might have been alerted of their escape and put the word out on us as hostile. Collect your kid and let's get going, we have no time to loose, we could have lost the element of surprise already." He waited a moment before vanishing in a burst of speed, the other mist nin taking hold of Haku and following the bare-chested man. Taking Hanabi into his arms Naruto took off after them, ignoring her yelp of surprise.

* * *

The Mizukage stared at the tortured man in front of him with black eyes, then darted them back to the only other man in his office.

"Although this brings to light the treachery of the Seven Swordsman I fail to see just how ratting them out benefits you." The leader said stoically. The said informant started at him with sickly yellow eyes that were green moments before.

"I helped you so you would help me later on old man. In a few years I will return and you will aid me in my conquest." The man said before he melted into a puddle of mud. The Mizukage stared at the mud pile for a moment in mild wonder for a few seconds before shaking his head and calling guards to attention in his office.

"We have learnt of a plot to usurp control of the Mist, prepare for battle and be cautious, the Seven Swordsman have allied with them. We have Intel of where they are striking from and their numbers but even so we must be cautious, those men didn't get their nickname for nothing. Inform the rest of the village ninja and be ready for a bloodbath for we will most likely see one. We will crush these fools for good and nothing will get in my way!" his maniacal laughter rang throughout the office and its surroundings freaking out those who heard it.

"Sir shouldn't we take measures to hide or protect the civilians?" one of the jounin asked. His response was a kunai in the face and a dead thump.

"Fool! This is a ninja village, a military installation. Civilians should have enough common sense to get away from the fighting and if not I don't care; all that matters is the title and status of the Mizukage and the Hidden Mist, you will do well to remember it. Dismissed." All Mist shinobi snapped a sharp salute before hightailing it out of there, no one dare say it but their leader was a nut-case.

'Soon there will be nothing stopping me from total dominance.' He shifted an eye to the tortured man in his office that was brought to him by the now puddle of mud.

"Guards, clean up this mess!" he commanded. He watched with a sick satisfaction as the bloodied mass of flesh was dragged out of his office.

* * *

Zabuza stared down from an elevated platform at his assembled strike team, several chuunin and a couple genin and jounin. There was a buzz of chatter amongst the team as they waited for their orders. A sharp whistle from the demon from the Bloody mist broke all conversation.

"My fellow Mist ninja we are short on time so I'll make this quick. I feel that you must be aware that our location has been compromised. This means that there will be an untold amount of ninja in our way to ambush us. None of us would be here if we didn't know what was at stake and the price of failure and there is no way that we'll escape this encounter unscathed. The odds are stacked against us; we won't get another chance at this. Ready yourselves, for we are going to be flying in white hot. Ready weapons, we depart in 5 minutes." Zabuza stepped down from the platform coming face to face with his newest ally.

"You aren't one for speeches are you?" Naruto said dryly.

"No not really." Zabuza said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"If you're going to be the Mizukage then you will have to learn to give speeches daily." Naruto pointed out making Zabuza adopt a thoughtful look.

"But hey, you would be a better Mizukage then the current one right? That's all that matters." Naruto said airily. Zabuza cast a dark look on Naruto but stopped suddenly when he realized something was off, the young girl that was with him was around his shoulders on his back.

"You aren't actually going to bring her along are you? Isn't that unsafe? She's like what, 3 years old?" Zabuza asked, silently questioning the kid's sanity.

"Hanabi is safer with me than anywhere else on the planet, plus she won't leave me even if I tried to get her to hide somewhere. Oh and just for the record she's 3 years, 6 months old." Naruto said earning him a shrug from Zabuza.

"Hey it's your kids life, do what you want. Alright people lets move out." Zabuza called. In a flash the building was empty.

Racing through the marsh land Hanabi leant down to her father's ear from her position on his back at his gesture.

"Tell me what you see Hanabi." he asked her quietly. Focusing chakra into her eyes as her dad had taught her she felt veins around her temples and eyes grow bigger. In an instant she saw nearly all the way around her, seeing blue blips scattered throughout the area in front on them.

"3 ahead, more there, there, there and there. Coming this way." She said pointing in different directions. Adjusting his course to the solo ninja on the ground he held his hand in the serpent strike position and thrust forward having a miniscule amount of chakra in the tips of his fingers. Connecting with the guys stomach he watched as the guy paled, the injection of chakra poisoning his chakra pool, whilst stealing a fair bit as well. Following his first strike he slammed his other hand, palm outstretched into the guys chest, his hand sinking into the man's chest about 1 foot inwards. The blow launched the Mist nin into the other jounin right behind him. A chakra tail sprung from Naruto's tailbone sending an incoming kunai ricocheting away in a random direction, the weapon exploding seconds later.

'That could've been dangerous…' Naruto thought as he grabbed one of the stunned ninja with the chakra tail and squeezed slightly before letting go, the burns around the ninja's neck were at a degree that he wouldn't be able to draw in the necessary oxygen to fight property and if he did he'd end up killing himself from suffocation. He grunted as he manifested three other tails that went about smacking the last jounin like whips for a moment before letting him drop to the ground unconscious, the chakra burns dealt to the Mist nin's body having knocked him out. Naruto turned to the remaining Mist nin, who was on the ground shaking like a leaf in the wind. Taking a look at his face Naruto knew why and retracted his tails. He walked at a casual pace to the nin who, as quickly as possible scurried away like a rat being chased by a cat.

"St-stay away from me!" he shrieked. Naruto averted his gaze.

"You're lucky this isn't personal." With a jab to the forehead the ninja was unconscious, the chakra in the blow hitting his brain, temporarily shutting the organ down.

"I need you to get off daddies back for a moment, take my cloak with you." Obediently Hanabi did as she was told and climbed down off his back, taking the silky back cloak with her. Once she was off and firmly on the ground Naruto leaped into the foliage. Taking command of his tails he sent them on a flying frenzy, intensifying the power flowing through them. Whereas they were a weak translucent red before, they were now a stronger, fuller red that radiated heat.

'_**You're a walking disaster in battle Naruto.'**_ Hitomi commented sleepily. A grim look passed over his masked face a small smile on his face, as the four tails that were flapping wildly behind him seared through the trees and dug grooves in the ground where they hit.

'You trained me well sensei.' He didn't expect a reply from his caged sensei, she did this often, saying things in a half sleep state, some times he heard thing that he was pretty sure she would deny hotly, other times that would make him resemble a tomato in colour. With his current capacity of demonic chakra he knew that his time with using his tails like this were limited so he had to make the time he did have count although it would get very gory; which was why he didn't want Hanabi with him, she didn't need to witness what he was about to do. Flashing out of sight Naruto appeared in front of one of the Mist nin, the man with a standard jounin getup being sliced to pieces in seconds. About to move onwards Naruto felt someone appear behind him and try to put him in a choke hold and try snap his neck, the poor ninja suffered the fate of becoming a pile of meaty chunks.

"Sometimes I wonder if it is a good thing weather or not Hitomi's trait of killing and not feeling bad about it is a good thing, I should feel something when I kill these people but I don't, just indifference." Naruto flashed out of sight making quick work of the two remaining ninja lurking in the surrounding trees. Afterwards he backtracked to where he left Hanabi, who was huddled next to a tree, tightly wrapping his black cloak around her. Naruto walked slowly up to her, putting his hand on her shoulder, making her look up in surprise. She slowly got up from her crouched position next to the tree and found her spot on her father's shoulders.

"This is bothersome, let's go." Naruto vanished from the area just as the unconscious Mist ninjas' reinforcements arrived.

"What in hell happened here?" The leader of the group asked as he starred around at the scene of body parts and unconscious ninja.

* * *

It was easy enough for Naruto to locate Zabuza and the rest of the group, there was a distinctive sound of metal meeting metal and metal breaking. Naruto weighed his options, he could either go in guns blazing or he could do it slyly. His tank of chakra was still full but he didn't know exactly when he'd be using any major jutsu so he opted to do the subtle approach, that way he could prevent any possible life-threatening things occur, not for himself but for Hanabi's sake, she wasn't a corporal form of energy after all. Sitting down on the dirt he concentrated on his chakra pool. After making sure he had a firm grasp of it he expanded it till it was flowing around the outside of him like a field. Twisting it like a doorknob he sent it flying outward.

'Ok five jounin chakra sources and a few Anbu. Not bad. Chakra Drainage Technique.' He said in his mind. The effect was a flow of power forcibly snatched from the targeted ninja and portions of their chakra flowing into, using the chakra that Naruto had used as a beacon, Naruto's body.

"You lose some you gain some." He said airily.

"Water style: Water Dragon Jutsu." A jounin called from the side. Naruto saw the giant dragon heading towards him but didn't move a muscle. He mused quietly at the stealth this shinobi possessed.

"Kid watch out!" a Mist nin loyal to Zabuza's cause called. Naruto's form glow a light red, Naruto raised his hands up, palms outstretched. There was an explosion of water dousing everyone in the vicinity. The jounin that fired the Water Dragon looked at the impact sight to see that Naruto was still standing in the same spot, completely dry. Getting a good look at Naruto his eyes bugged open and stared at him in total horror.

"The- The- Cha-Cha- RETREAT! FALL BACK. HE'LL KILL US ALL, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" he got two steps before he fell onto the mud in a meat puzzle. Naruto had made Hanabi look away as his tails chopped the man to pieces.

"Dude that was AWESOME!" a boy with a mask and metal gauntlet on his hand said. A second later his face was turned to the side, a red mark visible on his face.

"That was NOT awesome; that was disgusting, don't say such stupid things boy killing is not something anybody should enjoy." Naruto snarled making everybody jump in recoil.

"Then why… ?"

"This is a civil war and although this isn't my country I have a deal to uphold. That means I have to make sure that the one that I made the deal with and those alongside him stay alive. He was about to toss a dozen exploding tags on kunai at us to cover his escape. I did what I had to. Let it be known, you do not want me as an enemy, I have techniques at my disposal you could only dream of. Now I believe we have an unscheduled meeting with the Mizukage to get to, and I don't want to get into anymore meaningless fights." The rouge group of Mist Ninja let out a short and fast 'yes sir' before they vanished. Zabuza staring at awe at the retreating backs of his men.

* * *

A few hours later

The Mizukage stared at his office door tapping his hand on his desk nervously, it had been an several hours since he had deployed his _loyal _shinobi to eliminate the treacherous ones and he hadn't heard a word from any of the squads. But he was over thinking wasn't he? How could 31+ shinobi defeat a whole villages' worth of ninja, that didn't sound possible even for those who had Kekai Genkai. An urgent banging on his door startled him. He readied himself for a surprise attack; he was a seasoned shinobi after all if just a little bit out of shape, if his big round belly said anything.

"Lord Mizukage the-" the jounin slumped to the ground with a thud just as he started his frantic talking.

"This isn't at all how I imagined my first meeting with the Mizukage would turn out but it can't be helped." The Mizukage stared at the figure in a dark red shirt and black pants and bright blond hair in total shock.

"It seems that even the smallest force can destroy a great village of ninja, the evidence is staring at you from all around you, look out the window." The Mizukage stood up, his whole body tense from preparing for an attack by this newcomer. Walking to the window sideways as to not show his back to this person he peered out the glass pane.

"That's not possible!" he shouted as he looked at his ninja lying uncurious or dead all over the street.

"I assure you that it is quite possible, I was the one who did it after all. I was going to come here earlier in the day to discuss a treaty with a village on one of the islands south from here but when Zabuza Momochi found me around the edge of Water country he told me you were a fat pig of a Mizukage who was more a dictator than anything else. I see that at least his physical description was fairly accurate. One question though, how can someone that is not part of the Akamichi clan within Konoha still claim to be a ninja, a Kage level ninja at that with a physique like that?" the newcomer asked offhandedly sparking the dictators anger.

'This guy just called me fat! I'll kill him!' he mentally raged. With an angry lunge he got to the face of the newcomer and cause of his temper, brought his hand to choke him but felt a slight burning sensation in his hand as he did so. Looking at his hand his eyes bulged out of his sockets when he saw that his hand was sticking into the small mans neck.

"With a wide gap between me and my target I have to concentrate incredibly hard to use my chakra to do anything I want but with a direct link... like a hand inside my body it is far less complex. Chakra Style: Chakra Draining Technique." Hearing the name of the technique made the Water Shadow grow pale and yanked his hand free when he felt his chakra being forced down his arm and into this guy like metal being attracted to a magnet or water flowing down a stream.

"What are you?" the Mizukage yelled as he looked from his now burning hand and the guy in front of him.

"I'm just a guy that came walking into this country who was asked to help overthrow a dictator, fortunately or not for you I won't be the one to do that it isn't my buisnes. See, now unless you can perform single handed hand signs for jutsu your in trouble. That burning feeling in your hand right now, that's the feeling of all your chakra points in your hand being destroyed, or burned/clogged rather so you can't mould chakra into them for jutsu. It's a great way to disable a shinobi specialising in ninjutsu. That and the numbness it has as a side effect makes whatever I burn almost completely useless in taijutsu. Ha, look at that your already as good as dead if anyone comes to finish you off, and you call yourself a Kage. Man am I good or what?" He asked mockingly. The Mizukage glared at the boy in front of him, attempting to get chakra to flow into his hands for him to do hand signs or a water style jutsu but like the boy had said, he could not.

"This is not my country so I have no business dealing a finishing blow. The way I see it you have two choices, you can wait here and be killed due to you only having access to one fully functional arm or you can run and be disgraced from now till the time when your reign crumbles to the ground and your left as a name in the history books." The kid turned around and headed to the window the Mizukage was looking out of earlier and without a sound disappeared out the window. Taking a moment to make sure that the kid, no monster was gone he dashed to the part of his office where he stashed his weapons locker, he might not be the best with a sword but he might be able to make it far enough with the skill he did possess, he just hoped he didn't run into any of the Seven Swordsman, in his crippled condition be wouldn't last long. Looking out at his village, or rather ex-village he unfurled a scroll and smeared blood on it. with a pop the items fell into his hands, a black cloak and orange spiral mask with one eye hole. The Water Shadow created a clone and sent it out the window before adorning the cloak and mask. with not even a sound he promptly vanished, he'd have to get Zetsu to look into this guy that hurt him. God damn did it hurt!

* * *

Naruto walked slowly through the silent streets of the ninja capital of the Land of Water, with most of the enemies forces dealt with, uncurious in the dirt there was no real need to worry about an ambush.

"Hold it right there!" or so he thought. Turning around he caught sight of a platoon of jounin spread around the buildings surrounding him.

"Sorry guys but I don't have time to play around; I have places to be, run along quickly." He said with a wave of his hand. Angered by the mocking gesture Naruto saw most of them making hand signs. With quick succession Naruto grasped a hilt of metal from his hip and focused some chakra into it. With a snap and a hiss a sky blue beam of chakra emanated from the base.

"Chakra element: Pathways disturbance." Naruto said in a low voice as he swung the beam of chakra in a wide ark around him. The ambush team, having completed their seal sequence called out a range of Water style jutsu.

"Hey what gives, my jutsu didn't work." Yelled a jounin, several others saying similar things.

"You attack me and you forfeit your life. This sword is special, like those of the seven swordsman of the Mist it has special properties. For instance if I stab someone with it," Naruto vanished and reappeared next to the closest of the jounin and stabbed him in the side. The blue beam blowed for a moment before it looked like water was being sucked out of the Mist shinobi, the energy slamming into the hilt. Naruto removed the beam as the jounin slumped, falling from his position on the roof of a building and smacking into the dirt with a dull thud. "It siphon's chakra from the opponent till there's almost nothing left, then I can launch it back out like a projectile. Secret jutsu: decapitation technique." Like before Naruto swung his sword in an ark but with far less range. A crescent moon shape of chakra flew at a couple of jounin that there grouped together and in a disgusting show of blood, limbs and body parts fell into a heap. Another hiss and the beam of energy retracted till only the hilt was left. He placed the hilt near his waist; it stuck to it with an invisible source.

"You guys should probably stop fighting, your Kage fled the village already, and you're fighting a battle without a leader and against an opponent that can easily cut you into a million little bits with a swing of a sword. You should gather your forces and wave the white flag, its over." His answer was a water dragon soaring his way. With the jutsu closing in on them fast Naruto made a seal and concentrated on the chakra within the dragon. Another jounin who was leaping towards Naruto with a katana raised overhead ready to swing downward at the still black clad boy got hit in the chest with the water dragon, sending him straight into the opposite building.

"Since your not going to leave me alone I guess I'll just have to remove you, to bad for you that your fighting a lost battle." He felt the odd sensation of physical matter flying through him and his body taking some of his chakra to fill the hole it created. Naruto shivered at the feeling, he would never get used to that feeling. He glanced at Hanabi who was on his shoulders, still asleep; if he wanted to keep her that way then he'd have to be a little more careful on how he dealt with these jounin.

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!" a thick blanket of fog surrounded the area. A tail shot out from his tailbone, ensnaring a leg, making the legs owner trip and dangle in the air. As the jounin casting the Hidden Mist jutsu and his buddies weren't masters with fighting within it Naruto summarised that they were using the mists cover to regroup and formulate a plan of attack. Naruto turned to his upside down captive and commanded his tail to bring the ninja to his face.

"You know I'm not very happy at the moment and my chakra could use a little replenishing, for your sake I hope you don't have a family." Naruto's hand mystified and shot into the jounin's gut emitting a blue light that withdrew from the jounin's abdomen and into Naruto's body. After a moment Naruto withdrew his misted appendage and materialised it back into a hand.

'What to do, should I or shouldn't I leave these monkeys and get out of here?' he asked himself. His answer came from Hanabi who was mumbling incoherent words. Without a word he vanished.

Naruto appeared in an encampment a kilometre some ways south of where he left the ninja platoon. Tapping his shoulder lightly he was rewarded with a slight movement on his high back and shoulder.

"Alright Princess time to get off of dad's back."

"Wanna sleep." Was all she said before Hanabi's soft breathing started again.

"Geez, talk about sleeping like a log." He muttered as he walked onwards, hopefully towards somewhere familiar. Several moments passed as he let Hanabi continue to snooze on his back as he walked till he stopped suddenly.

"So you finally took the bait. I was wondering weather or not you were going to partake in this little coup with that ape. Since your hear and the Mizukage met my blade a guess that means yes. "

"You killed that fat man, why?" was Naruto's quick question.

"He served his purpose of flushing you out so that I may meet you face to face. Kukuku."

"I am so sick and tired of you people trying to claim the bounty that fool placed on my head. I might have to rid myself of that nuisance but I do so hate fighting when I don't have to." Naruto turned to face a red head lady that strangely reminded him of Hitomi in appearance, there were distinct differences though. For one her eyes weren't red and she didn't have nine blowing tails from her tailbone.

"Oh I guarantee you that I'm no ordinary ninja kid. You see it was I that tipped of the Mizukage about that little coup the swordsman were staging. I wanted to see if the rumours are true about you." She said silkily. For some unknown reason the tone of voice she was using made Naruto's head scream danger, and he didn't like that at all.

'_Hitomi sensei, I know I'm not supposed to wake you when you're sleeping but I need a little input from you right now.'_ Naruto asked mentally trying to stir her from her slumber. He heard a light mumbling of 5 more minutes then silence. Naruto stared at the red head looking at him in…hunger? He was starting to get a 'freaked out' sense building in his conscious mind. Charging chakra to his eyes the iris coloured his entire eyeball in blue he gazed at the woman. He recoiled at the sight he saw; the red head wasn't a woman but a man in a Transformation disguise, or at least it looked like a transformation.

"Dude you have issues if you're parading around like a woman, I can see the chakra your using to change your image," he sniffed a bit as well. "You also don't smell like a woman but then again that doesn't count for everything does it?" Naruto said casually. The 'woman' laughed a little before a cloud of smoke flew up around her, revealing seconds later a pale skinned man with long dark hair and yellow snake like eyes. He wore a grey garb with a thick purple rope tied around his waist.

"My my you are an enigma aren't you, you little cipher. Tell you what, come with me willingly and I might just let you become one of my personal guards with a little training and you let me experiment on you." He said with a weird grin.

"Sorry but I have dreams that I have to accomplish, no can do. See you round cross dresser." Naruto said turning his back and walking off. The pale faced man laughed manically at that.

"Sorry to delude you but I always get what I want. I'm a little stubborn that way. Hidden Shadow snake hands." He said with a smirk. The smirk was short lived however as he snakes incinerated the second they touched him.

"Like I said before, no thanks. Now I'm not averse to using bad language around kids but piss off man whore or you'll regret it." Naruto sneered at the pale faced man. Unexpectedly however the pale face just laughed at his threat.

"Child you don't even know who I am and you're making threats. I'm one of the Legendary Three ninja, one of the Sannin. My name is Orochimaru, S-Class criminal from Konoha." Naruto glared at Orochimaru at the mention of his former village, something that the snake user noticed.

"Ah so the village has wronged you too? Hows about I broker you a deal, partner up with me and together we'll burn the Leaf village to a crisp." He said with a crazed smile.

"That village may have wronged me, but I will get back at them my way, the way I want with those like me. Now back off before I neutralise your ability to use chakra. This is your final warning!" Naruto said his voice raising.

"Little boy don't make threats you can't back up. The only people alive that are capable of such feats are the Hyuuga clan of the Hidden Leaf Village, and to me you don't look like a Hyuuga."

"I warned you. Chakra Style:" Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise. "Burning Hands technique." At the mention of the type of technique Orochimaru had froze for a second but evaded the hand that was thrust towards his stomach. The snake user made a move to smash his elbow into the boys outstretched arm but was again caught of guard when the boys arm vaporised into a mist, engulfing his arm in the blue mist.

"I gave you the chance but you chose not to take it. Chakra element: poison jutsu." Orochimaru felt a weird sensation enter his arm surrounded by the smoke, then rush up to his shoulder, quickly spreading through his entire body. The pale man flared his chakra to purge his body of the foreign substance but got a sharp stab of pain in his abdomen when he did so.

"I think you'll find it incredibly painful to use chakra, the poison eats up chakra and the more you use the faster it will spread through your body and damage your chakra and your chakra points. Its pretty fast acting so I would think that due to that large chakra burst you did just then it should be well circulated. The more you usr the worse you'll feel. I'd suggest leaving to find some help if you can find it, I'm not ure how many people would help an S class missing ninja like you." With no such motion as a wave of the hand Orochimaru left the area as fast as he could.

A little ways off from where Naruto had been, Orochimaru could be seen clutching his stomach in pain.

"What the hell did that brat do to me?" he yelled through clenched teeth.

'That boy couldn't be any older than 8, I have to find a way to neutralise him. Attacks like that which can infect a persons chakra pathways; he could easily have defeated me. My mistake of underestimating him could have cost me my life. I need to get Kabuto to look at this poison, its painful as hell. And what the hellwas that mist? it was like he isn't even a tangible being.' He winced as he began to move again hoping to get to Rice country with minimal interference. With another wince he vanished; not seeing the pair of Sharingan eyes starring at the snake summoner.

"I don't understand why leader would permit watching over Orochimaru to be a high priority, but that kids attacks are something to look into, those are dangerous moves and what's worse, I couldn't copy them to analyse a weakness. We should report this incident to Leader; he should be informed of this newcomer and his powers."

"What about snake fag Orochimaru?" a man in a red cloud black cloak asked.

"You watch him, he shouldn't be too much of a threat in his condition and he shouldn't notice you, after all he can't use any chakra for the moment if what that boy said was correct." With not so much as a glance or movement both men vanished.

* * *

Naruto approached the tower where the Mizukage's office was slowly, the fighting that he had been doing had worn him out somewhat and he needed to recycle his chakra to maintain his physical form. He was met with the faces of Zabuza and those within his squad when he arived.

"You did good kid; the Mizukage was seen by a scout fleeing the country and most ofhe other ninja have surrendered. I don't think we'll be hearing from that man for a long time. By the way we saw a meat house worth of body parts someway off, I assume that was you?" Naruto gave a curt nod in reply.

"I feel that I should tell you that one of the Sannin Orochimaru, the S class criminal was the one who informed the Mizukage of your assassination plot. The cross dressing man gutted the Mizukage, he said that he planned for me to take part in your operation so that he could ascertain knowledge of my power. I sent him packing so he shouldn't pose a threat for an extended amount of time."

"You're a monster kid, if the opportunity arises and you're interested I'd like an alliance with you." Zabuza said shaking his head in disbelief.

"One and a half years. By that time I'll have the basics of my village set up. October 10th on one of the two islands between Sea and Water country; find me there to talk about alliances. For now I need a place to stay so that I may replenish my strength and so that my little girl can sleep." Naruto turned but paused and looked back at the Swordsman. "What will you do now?"

"The civilians having seen so many shinobi in formation most likely took refuge in their homes or basements, they most likely still think there's a battle going on. Give it a few days then they'll start to come out of hiding. If you need a place to stay just find a hotel and squat in a room, the civilians as they are right now won't care." Zabuza explained. Nodding his understanding Naruto vanished with a blink to find a Hotel or Inn to stay in.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha knelt on one knee in front of a hologram of a man with the same black cloak with red clouds and a head of spiked hair.

"Leader, sir we have made contact with Orochimaru, it seems as though he will attempt an assault on the Hidden Leaf village in a number of years." Itachi said in a monotone.

"Is that it?" the Hologram said, clearly irritated.

"While observing the traitor we came across an enigma, the one calling himself the Chakra Demon. He inflicted a serious wound on the traitor before the traitor escaped."

"…" the Leaders eyes in the Hologram widened slightly.

"I do not believe this one to be one of the targets that you have us assigned to capture."

"Have you located the Nine Tails sacrifice?" the Leader asked suddenly.

"No Sir." He said in a low voice.

"I believe investigation of this 'Chakra demon' is in order. I will assign someone else to track down the nine tails, I want you to get as much information on this guy and report back to me with your results."

"Hai Leader,Sir." The hologram faded and Itachi rose from his secluded area.

'This just gets even more interesting as time goes by.' Itachi mused before vanishing.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha, last remaining Uchiha within the Hidden Leaf village slammed his fist into the training post he was at then followed it up with a kick to the bottom of the post. He flipped back a couple times, flew through a series of hand signs and used a single hand to make a funnel up against his mouth.

"Fire Style: Giant Fireball jutsu!" in a show of flames the post lit ablaze with flames. He repeated this process a few times before falling on his ass.

"I swear if it's the last thing I do I'll kill you Itachi." He said darkly. Sasuke stared at his training results, 4 posts, only one more than he could do last month when he tried it. Even in his tired and fatigued state Sasuke managed the strength to slam his fist into the ground.

'Still not as good as he was at me age, what does he have that I don't that makes him so dam strong!' he raged. He was about o try get up and try againfind someone that would train him but every time he found someone even a little promising they'd turn him down saying that training to be a ninja from such an early age would more of less kill your social life and all ties of friendship he had. He had even tried playing the 'I am an Uchiha' card but they would not budge. Sasuke suddenly remembered something he heard someone say to him from out of the blue years ago.

'If no one will help you, if to one will assist in your development and or training then do it yourself, if you go to someone then your learning something that someone else already knows who probably got it from some else themselves. If you want to get strong, train and develop your skills yourself so that when you go into battle the chances of an opponent knowing the flaws to the style that you fight in are slim to nil.' This apifany led Sasuke to crossroads, he could start to develop his own style or abandon learning his clan hereditary style. There was a internal battle raging in his head on what corse of action he should take but eventually Sasuke's clan pride and arrogance won out.

"The Uchiha clan of the Hidden Leaf village are the elite shinobi; nothing can defeat us. I'll leave everyone I know in the dust of my success." In a rare action Sasuke punched his fist in the air but quickly composed himself, if word got out about that one action his reputation would be ruined. Standing over the body of a defeated Anti-Sasuke (Read: everything opposite of what Sasuke is in regards to attitude) Pride of the Uchiha clan Sasuke stood tall.

"Nothing can stop us now, onto the road of power!" Uchiha Pride Sasuke said who broke out into maniacal laughter. Anti-Sasuke stared at his counterpart weirdly.

"Dude you've completely lost it." he paused. "Then again did you ever have it in the first place?' he asked out loud. Anti-Sasuke looked at his counterpart. "I'll take that as a no." Pride Sasuke just kept on laughing. The original Sasuke, oblivious of the two mini-mes on his shoulders eventually got up to fix his face up, there were scorch marks all over his face and he needed to get to the hospital so that the med ninja there could fix them. One thing Sasuke could say about this village, it sure produced some _fine _medics, and people thought that he wasn't interested in the female variety of the human species. He just hoped to god that there weren't ever going to be med nin fan girls in his lifetime, it would wash away all semblance of wet dreams that Sasuke ever had. Sasuke remembered how he found out about what wet dreams were. It was one of the funniest memories and one of the rare ones that he had of his brother that didn't stir up a volcano of hatred, right away anyway.

Flashback

Five year old Sasuke's eyes snapped open at the sound of low moaning and groaning. Sleepily rubbing his eyes Sasuke walked sluggishly toward the sound, intent of finding just what it was that woke him up. Sasuke came to a halt in front of the door where the sound was coming from and he looked at it in confusion, this wasn't his parents' room. As slow as he could Sasuke slid open the door to have a look at what was causing the sound and got an eyeful of an interesting sight.

"Anko please…not too rough…I didn't know you could use kunai like that…" Itachi said in between moans. Sasuke confused on what his brother was saying in his sleep walked up to the side of his bed and shook him lightly. Itachi's eyes opened with a snap.

"Itachi, what was that Anko doing to you to make that noise? You woke me up." Sasuke asked sleepily, not catching his brothers' quick actions to cover his midsection with a heap of blankets.

"That little brother was a wet dream, when you get to my age you'll learn to love them. It involves you and a girl, that's all I'm ever saying. Now go back to sleep." Itachi turned away from his brother and Sasuke left for his room, not for a second understanding what his brother just said.

End Flashback

Getting to the hospital in his roughed up shape wasn't easy, the rabid fangirls were more relentless then ever. He thanked whatever celestial being that was watching over him for his safe trip, so to speak and walked up to the reception desk.

"Excuse me miss but may I get some assistance. I scorched myself pretty bad and I need to get treatment." He asked politely, just because he was an avenger didn't mean he didn't have the decency not to be polite to those that provided medical care in the hospital.

"Oh hello Sasuke, scorch marks again?" the black haired boy nodded. "There is a ninja that was in some very bad fight so you will have to wait a few moments while the medics fix him up." The receptionist told him.

"That's ok I can wait, thank you." Sasuke said with a small bow and left for the waiting area. Whilst waiting for the med nins to finish their work Sasuke heard a part of a convocation between a pair of shinobi.

"Can you believe it? I mean even after al this time the Amekage still won't admit to needing help after the blow to his ninja ranks he received 1 ½ years ago."

"Yeah but suppose that if he does stop being a douche-bag and requests help or Kami forbid an alliance he'll have to admit that the rumours surrounding his massive drop in shinobi were true, that a small kid with power as great as one of the legendary tailed beasts was responsible." Sasuke's eyes widened then narrowed seconds later.

'A kid was able to clean a ninja village of half it's military? I can only blow up a few training posts. Perhaps if I seek this person out in a few years they'll train me so I can kill my brother. But until then I need to train.' Without a sound Sasuke got up from where he was sitting and left the hospital. Moments later a nurse walked into the waiting area accompanied by a ninja in a wheelchair.

"He's gong to be just fine, but he'll have to wait a few weeks to let the broken bone heal." She said indicating to the cast on the treated nin's arm. Nodding their thanks they left the hospital with their team-mate. The nurse afterwards glanced around the waiting room, looking for Sasuke.

"Where would he go if he wanted to get those scorch marks healed? Oh well, I'm sure he'll come back later." With that the nurse headed off the reception desk to clear Sasuke from the list of people to heal. Meanwhile Sasuke was on a hunt for his favourite training partner, hopefully the Hyuuga complex had a few medic ninja available to assist him before he and Hinata could get into some training which he knew she would enjoy. He absently wondered what had changed the then timid heiress of the Hyuuga clan of one and a half years to a vicious kunoichi in training that rivalled him in skill… or perhaps leading him he wasn't sure anymore.

Morning after- with Naruto

"_**Kit you know how close you came to going over the limit before you started to fade? And don't spill some shit about not having enough time because you know that's not true and you know that in this mindscape you can't lie to me."**_ Hitomi asked seriously. Naruto looked at his sensei behind the bars in front of her cage with a sheepish smile on his unmasked face; she had forbidden him from wearing it in her presence.

"Sensei you have limited the use of your chakra to the using of the tails so I had to, to pull of the techniques that I used. I did replenish my reserves with other sums of chakra so it shouldn't be such a big deal.

"_**Fool! Chakra that you siphon from others is only good if you use it straight away or feed it through the seal over there on the wall of the cavern. Right now you have about 25 percent worth of power left. You should channel the remaining chakra you stole through the seal before it vanishes or you'll have to draw on my chakra and you know I don't want you taking anything less then what you have right now, remember you receive a 15 percent of a tail of power a month for since you were 7 years old, that means that until then you only have access to as much of my power as you have stockpiled and you can only maintain a level head with the amount you have gained."**_

"I have two tails and I'm three months away from completing the third. By the time our village is erected I'll have 5 and a half tails and by the time I'm 12 I should have just about all of it right?" Naruto asked.

"_**Correct, now recycle the chakra while you still have the it; you need to keep the level of chakra for this above 10 percent, if it drops below that then you will start to fade like you did after you caught up with the others after you more or less adopted Hanabi as your own child. Oh and before I forget don't even think about skipping out on the training of maintaining concentration of multiple thought processes at once. As soon as you can master that and I don't have to assist you, you will be able to begin preparations for a mitosis type cloning technique as any other cloning technique could prove fatal."**_ Stepping away from the cage Naruto approached the seal that he had made 12 months ago, under the careful gaze of his caged sensei. The seal was designed to function as a chakra recycling system. Due to his body using a specific amount of chakra to remain tangible it had to be replaced with new chakra every day to stave off his body fading away into nothing, if that happened his spirit would feed it till there was no energy left, when his spirit had exhausted all is could he would die. With a heavy sigh he placed his palms onto the seal and waited to feel the push and pull on his chakra, it was always a nauseating feeling to experience but he stood his ground, it was either he do this or not do it and die. Completing he process some minutes later he faded from his mindscape into a fitful sleep.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, his gaze falling onto the person shaking him awake, or having their hands pass through his body. As his eyes focused he saw that it was Hanabi trying to stir him from his slumber.

"Come on dad get up, we have to go soon remember?" Hanabi said, irritated.

"What time is it?" he asked as he got up from his futon. He looked around for a clock or some indicator of time but found none.

"Half past nine dad, we should have left an hour ago." Naruto jumped to his feet in an instant.

"9:30! We have to go. Get your things quickly." He said hastily.

"Did that already dad, now can we get something to eat before we go, I'm hungry." To add to her statement her stomach gave loud grumble making Hanabi blush in embarrassment. Naruto laughed a bit at her embarrassment but stopped immediately after, there was a time for these kinds of things and sadly this wasn't one of them.

"Ok lets go, we might get lucky and stumble in as some people are leaving breakfast, but considering what happened the day before it wouldn't surprise me in the least if people were still in hiding. Remember stay close to me." He said holding out his hand which she took.

"Yeah, yeah a know; honestly sometimes I think you're a little too protective." She huffed.

"I'm only doing this because I love you Hanabi, it's the only reason I do it." Naruto said as they left the room they squatted in. Stumbling into the eatery they were greeted with an empty hall. It wasn't small but it wasn't big either and the furniture looked incredibly old.

'With the inevitability of civil war hanging over their heads they probably spent most of their money making this place a strong fortified structure to survive weapon damage and ninjutsu. Finding the kitchen not too far away Naruto headed there for the likelihood of there being pre-packaged food they could eat quickly, with the lives civilians had to live for the past who knows how long it wasn't a luxury they could afford, cooking up grand 3 course meals.

"Lets find and eat what we can, seal what we don't eat into a sealing scroll and be on our way. There should be enough around here that it won't be missed." The whole ordeal took about 45 minutes to complete; most of it was Hanabi eating whatever Naruto said she was allowed to and Naruto sealing food away into sealing scrolls, taking small bits and pieces as he went.

"Ok let's brush your teeth and get out of here."

"But I don't wanna! That stuff tastes bad." She huffed. Naruto fixed her with a stare.

"Are you talking back to me young lady?" Naruto said sternly making Hanabi go pale in the face.

"No no no I'll do it, please don't be mad at me!" she cried out, if anything she never wanted to disappoint her dad, t would be like back in the Leaf village and she didn't want to remember that time of her life.

"Hanabi you know that I want you to do it for your own good, you don't want all your teeth to fall out before you get to my age do you?" Hanabi shook her head no rapidly, he'd seen what people like that looked like and shuddered from the memory.

"That's my girl, come on lets go get it done with, we can't stay around here forever."

Some time later

Zabuza rushed toward the south side of the village, he had to find the kid and his kid before they left, it wouldn't be right if he let the boy leave without saying thank you now would it. That and Haku wanted to see his kid before they left the country which was why said girl was sitting on his shoulders. Finding themselves at the edge of the village the Demon of the Bloody Mist saw a black spot in the not too far distance.

"Hold on Haku this will be a fast ride." With the warning out of the way the Mist Jounin sped as fast as he could towards the black mask wearing ninja that helped him accomplish his goal. He wasn't at all surprised when he saw the kid turn from his destination waiting for the Mist nin to catch up to them.

"Kid hold on a sec," he said breathing a little heavy with the adrenaline pumping through his body. "I never got the chance to thank you for helping me and my group for taking back the Mist from that fat man. Also for future reference what is your name, you never did tell me." The bandage wearing nin asked.

"I came from a pace where my name would cause considerable chaos, for this reason I can't tell you my real name but my title you'll be referring to me as soon in the future as the Reikage of the village Shrouded in Shadows."

"Spirit shadow huh? You sure know how to pick em kid. Good luck out there, it's a dangerous place."

"Sure thing No-brow, I'll be seeing you round, take care of that Haku girl, she seems to be incredibly fond of you." Zabuza turned an eye to the girl beside him who ducked her head in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about that kid I will. You do the same with your kid. Now I got to go, there's a lot of things that need to be fixed with this country before it can return to the world as a prominent military power." With those word said both pairs unceremoniously vanished in opposite directions.

Meanwhile near Sea Country

Kazumi stumbled in her run as she carried Rai on her shoulder, Kai and Yugito behind her. It was lucky for them in a way that it happened how it did, they would be dead if it happened any other way. Two weeks after Naruto and Hanabi split from them to head to Water country Gaara started to complain about headaches, saying that Shukaku was becoming restless and fidgety, the sand on his person jumping around every so often more than proved his point. Kai being the smartest among the present group on demon behaviours suggested that Gaara, , meet the sand spirit within himself to find the source of its agitation seeing as it wasn't communicating very well indirectly. That was a big mistake.

Flashback

After moments of Gaara trying to project a mental image of himself into the Sand spirits domain within his mind he achieved the task but was shocked, the _thing _that seemed to bind Shukaku to his body and mind was leeching energy from it, in a rather unstable fashion, and changing the sand spirit rapidly.

"_**Boy, get out of here, get out of here before this demented monk… rah!"**_ Gaara saw what looked like black sand seep from the binds that held him into his body of sand.

"_**Gaara get out of herrrrrar! Boy give me blood, kill the old hag, bath in her blood. Kill them all."**_

"No! What's happened to you Shukaku?" he asked franticly, standing away from the chains that were holding the demon.

"_**Boy if you won't do it for me I'll make you do it!"**_ tendrils of sand shot off from the demons body ensnaring Gaara's body completely before the red head could do anything about it. Outside in the real world Gaara's body encased itself with all the sand that Gaara had on him, which covered about half of his body from waist upwards. This action caused Yugito and Kai to jump backwards into defensive positions whilst also pulling a frightened Temari, Kankuro Rai and Kazumi behind them. Gobi who was with Rai growled threateningly at the possessed Gaara who in return paid him no mind.

"_**Free at last! Free to kill you all!"**_ a demented Shukaku possessed Gaara screamed, bloodlust oozing off him in waves.

"Yugito be wary, keep everyone behind me and make sure that no one else gets into the area. Something has happened to Shukaku, he has never been like this from what Sanbi remembers. Next to Naruto I'm the only one that stands a chance against someone like this. I'm the strongest out of everyone here."

"_**Sand Shuriken!"**_ Fistfuls of sand smacked into Kai's side spinning him around like a spinning top.

"Yugito, now!" Kai yelled from his position on the ground. Nodding her head in understanding the blonde rounded everyone up behind her and ran away from Kai and Gaara. She was surprised when Gobi leaped out from behind her, his tails swirling around wildly.

"_**So you two want to die first huh? Fine then, Sand Coffin!"**_ Gaara's hand launched off is arm, the clump of sand aimed at Kai. A hand sign later and three aqua blue tails sprouted from Kai's tailbone breaking up the clump of sand. A sand shower later had Kai's three tails swatting away Shukaku's incoming sand attacks. Still holding the hand sign Kai grunted as he turned his head towards the demon dog not too far from where he was standing.

"I know you don't like listening to me but I plead that you help me, you're better at brawling then I am, you have more power to throw around than I do. Please understand what I need you to do!" Kai asked desperately. Without a sound Gobi charged at Shukaku, his tails covering the front of him like a shoddy shield. Having his concentration split Shukaku diverted his onslaught of attacks solely on Gobi as he was the one most likely to put up a fight.

Disengaging his hand sign Kai dashed to where he thought Yugito had taken the non fighting persons of their group, even though they had been training for 1 ½ years they were no match for another demon powerhouse.

"Perhaps if I hurry Gobi can hold him at bay long enough for Lady Kazumi to find a way to fix whatever's wrong with him. Whatever's wrong it has to be the seal that's causing it."

End Flashback

It was a weird sight, one that Kai was not expecting to see on his race back to the others. On fast approach when he located them he bore witness to a sight that he wished he had never seen, in a tightly nit huddle there were the two siblings Temari and Kankuro trying to use the weapons they had on their person trying to kill themselves whilst at the same time saying something totally incoherent. Not slowing his approach he quickly and swiftly blew past them while at the same time smacking them across the neck knocking them out instantly. Yugito and Kazumi who were holding the siblings from committing suicide dropped them in astonishment at Kai's grand entrance.

"Don't worry about them their just unconscious. Lady Kazumi when Gobi wears Shukaku down and he retreats back into the seal I need you to analyse the seal that binds him to Gaara. By my estimations you will only have a short window of time to do this and I'm not sure how long it will be till we have another shot at this, so I need you to come with me back to the fighting. Yugito stay here and look after these three. If these two" he glanced at the unconscious Temari and Kankuro. "Wake up in a hysterical panic knock them out straight away." With those commands set he picked Kazumio up and rushed back to the fighting hoping to get there in time for his idea to work.

'It has to work there's no other way we can get out of this if it doesn't. How I wish that Naruto was here right now...' he thought quickly as he sped onward.

At a nearby town

Everyone within the small town was bobbed down, fright and mass panic hanging around the population like a thick blanket. Inside a small home a small boy of 10 years of age was hugging his mother and father for dear life.

"Mama, Papa make it stop please!" he shrieked as he buried his face into his mothers lap. Both parents however were unable to answer their young boy for they too were shaking like leaves in the wind, like everyone else in the town was. A loud thunderous boom sounded not too far of in the distance from the town making the boy shiver in fear, taking his arms from his mother and wrapping them around his legs drawing his knees to his chest. A louder and much closer din was the last thing the young boy head before his mind couldn't take it and shut down.

"_**Mongrel you fight like a dog! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- OW that hurt! Sand shuriken!" **_ outside Shukaku stood firm as the hole in his side slowly closed up from the tails that had impaled him. Gobi snarled at the racoon dog as one of his tails blocked a storm of incoming sand. As the sand retracted to its wielder Gobi smashed his tails into the ground, growling in a few short bursts as if speaking in barks. Without warning the whole area around Shukaku rose off from the ground and swallowed him whole reverting back to its flat like state. Gobi let out a short bark in accomplishment just as the ground shook violently and Shukaku clawed his way back to the surface.

"_**That was a cheap trick you pulled there bitch, let me return the favour. Sand Shuriken!" **_However as he through out his hands to throw his projectiles he realised something, every brain of sand he had previously was no longer present. The now sandless sand spirit looked down at the spot he had just dug himself out of which had closed up without even a hint of it being disturbed.

**"Well played bitch, I'll get you… next**…time…**"** without any notice the red head fell flat forward, face first into the dirt. Mere seconds later Kai blurred into view with a winded Kazumi on his back.

"Lady Kazumi if you could please collect your breathe quickly so we can ascertain the reason for this behaviour it would be much appreciated." Kai said as he let the pale haired lady down from his back. Shooting the teen a withering look Kazumi approached the unconscious red head. Kai watched from afar as she worked her vocation on the young red head, weary that he might wake up suddenly. Turning his head slightly to the dog demon that was now…licking himself, he couldn't help but ask.

"Just how in the world did you manage to remove all the sand from his body to rid Gaara of Sandbags influence?" Kai's answer came seconds later as Gobi regurgitated a whole lot of sands from his mouth.

"Demon technique: earthen digestion. Very clever my fluffy friend, very clever indeed. I shall tell Mistress Hitomi of this deed, she will be most proud of you as you will have helped Master Naruto's friend." Kai turned to the Sealing Expert, watching her finish her work. Standing up from the crouch she was in she turned to Kai who was looking at her expectantly.

"I found the problem but as of yet it is not able to be solved. The seal that binds the Shukaku is but a combination of two seals, one is an inferior point seal which only holds now because of the demon has stopped trying to escape and take control. The other seal is a little more difficult to explain, to put it simply the monk that sealed Shukaku into the tea kettle the first time used an irregular containment seal that projects the soul into the seal. He sealed his soul into the tea kettle along with Shukaku, my only guess is that when the fool of a Kazekage wanted to create a weapon he transferred both spirits into his son. I assume that when Naruto and Hitomi encountered Shukaku the first time and scared him from taking control the monks spirit wanted control by using its power of the Berserker seal it created to seal itself away with the demon." Both Kai and Gobi had goldfish expressions having only understanding bits and pieces of what she had said, Kai more than Gobi because he was the smart one.

"Right ok now what can be done to stop this?" Kai asked, really not wanting to fight another demon again.

"Like I said, nothing at the moment, at least nothing permanent. I was able to separate the monk from the main seal but it will only last for a few months, to fix a permanent solution I'll need the help of another sealing expert." She explained.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin is one such expert." Kai pointed out. Kazumi shook her head.

"His allegiance to Konoha makes him a wild card that we cannot trust. I was thinking more along the lines of our group figurehead." She said with a wide smile. Kai looked at her strangely.

"How do we know he's even remotely close to here, wherever hear is anyway." Kai asked, bewildered at the suggestion.

"You don't live as long as I have in the shinobi nations without picking up a few tricks. He will be here just you wait and see. Now I suggest that we collect the rest of our clique and meet back here. I think we have some explaining to do with the people of this town." Kai nodded his understanding and leapt away while Gobi just stood there for a moment before falling onto his paws and lying on the dirt.

"Stubborn as always…Troublesome dog."

Konoha Hyuuga complex

Sasuke scowled as he marched his way towards the Main branch dojo, this place reminded him of the Uchiha Complex…when it was still populated by his family. He let out a low growl at the memory he was left with. he finally tracked his sparing partner down, it took him a whole day to find her!

'I WILL kill you Itachi I swear it.' he said in his head as he approached the sliding door of the dojo, completely unaware of the mini-Sasuke that was standing on his shoulder in the sith lord stance repeating the words like a mantra.

"I will… I will I will kill you Itachi. I will… I will I will kill you Itachi. I will… I will I will kill you Itachi even if it kills me too." Reaching for the handle to the door he paused when he heard the voice of Hinata's father Hiashi Hyuuga on the other side.

"Although I am indeed impressed with your progress in the kata I instructed you to learn I must know why it is that you are so insistent on learning the advanced forms of the Gentle Fist. Whenever I ask you, you always brush it off with asking me for more things to learn. Before we progress any further I want an answer to my question." The sternness in the Hyuuga head's voice was setting a heavy weighted atmosphere making Sasuke sweat a little bit.

"Father, I want to know all I can of the Gentle Fist so that one day I can use it to find and _destroy_ the people that kidnapped my little sister. If I ever meet them I will show them what it means to go up against the Hyuuga clan." Sasuke actually jumped back in fear at the declaration and the seriousness of the Heiress's words before regaining his composure, he has never heard such venom in her voice.

"Very well then, though I must say I am not surprised. Do not falter in your quest, it is one that I wish I could undertake myself but that is a subject for another time. Right now I think we have a visitor, come in Sasuke." On cue Sasuke opened the sliding door and gave a short bow to the clan head.

"I will leave you two to your devices. Same time tomorrow Hinata, you are turning into a splendid Heiress." With that Hiashi left the dojo. Sasuke turned to Hinata who was in the process of fixing her hair from the mess it was earlier. Finishing up she stared at him.

"How much did you hear Uchiha?" she questioned sharply, her pale eyes locked on him so intently that he almost too a step back.

"All of it, I'm sorry for eavesdropping I just did not want to interrupt your father." This caused the Hyuuga girl to snort.

"Please! My father is not that scary." She said dismissively. Sasuke shook his head, he wasn't going to get into a debate on a village wide known fact.

"I had no idea that you had a sister." Sasuke began.

"Until I find her and know for sure what became of her she will remain my sister. Do not speak as if she does not exist or I'll find a way to end you. Now you and I both know each others reasons for this training partnership, if you say anything about my goal to anyone I will destroy you. Similarly if you get in my way I will seal your fate." She said dangerously. Deciding not to bring up the fact that she had threatened him two times in one string of sentences he opted to redirect her focus.

He dropped into the traditional Uchiha taijutsu stance, Hinata following his example and taking up a Gentle Fist starting position. Hinata smirked at Sasuke.

"Bring it on duck but." She baited. The twitch in his eyebrow made her inwardly cheer; she had successfully goaded Sasuke Uchiha, now after she was done mopping the floor with his face she would rub his mistake in it.

* * *

"This is troublesome. Of all the possible ships I decide to stow away on the one I picked just happened to be a pirate ship, just great." Naruto whispered to himself as he skulked around the cargo hold of the large sea transport. He and his daughter had come across a port on their way to the coast of Water country and deciding that the biggest ship would most likely have the hardest time keeping it secure he slipped aboard it. Pirates, for not being a smart lot of people were quite clever to use what they had at their disposal for things they needed, he saw a really fat man weaving a rope from hair. He wished however they had something akin to anti puerperant as they all stank so much, Naruto almost suffocated from the smell coming from the deck of the ship alone, Hanabi wasn't as strong as he was however and had passed out moments after smelling the foul stench of BO.

'_**I don't know why you don't just kill them all and dump them in the sea.'**_ Hitomi said pointedly.

'Its simple really, such a scene would raise an alarm the second we got in seeing distance of a harbour at Nagi Island. Although it may get rid of the smell it would blow what I have planned out of the water, I need the element of surprise.' He answered back.

**'Fine then. When you get back to the mainland find a place to rest up, your little girl looks like she needs it, she shouldn't be doing as much as she's doing at her age. I need at talk to you face to face about that, and about something else as well.'** he heard silence after that, making it pretty clear that she did not want to converse at this time. Making sure he had a secure hold of his sleeping daughter next to him in the crate that they had hid inside he set his body into a state of meditation, it was going to be a long while before they reached their destination.

* * *

Kankuro eyed the brown haired teen in front of him, at the beginning of their travels together the war-paint wearing boy was wary of him, well he was wary of everyone with the exception of his sister, and all the rest were high risk factors when they were just starting out as a group. Out of everybody in the group Kankuro singled Kai out as unique, as only Kai was chosen by a tailed beast for a demon human blending. He remembered when Kai had introduced himself to everyone, it was one of the last things Naruto had told him to do before they split up.

Flashback

Naruto and his small makeshift family were huddled in a small run down building in the slums of on of the villagers bordering Fire Country. They had been running for a good long while to get out of range of the Leaf village, though as a result everyone was dead tired having pushed their bodies to the max for great speed.

"We aren't in any sort of hurry but I wish to get this out of the way as soon as possible. I know it would seem like the first thing to do when someone new joins our group but we just haven't had the luxury of time. Now that were out of the village's patrol range we have a little time to do them. I think we should do this oldest to youngest." Naruto said, nodding towards Kazumi, who was a little flushed, having had used muscles she hadn't in years. She got up from her position of the floor and straightened herself.

"Very well then, I am Kazumi Shoiha, I am one of the last with my bloodline trait that allows me to cast physical genjutsu. I have lived many years and have picked up a great deal of knowledge on different areas that a shinobi may specialise in, my main focus however is Sealing. I have my granddaughter as my only link to my family. My goal is to teach the art of sealing to Naruto before I leave this world." She sat back down afterwards. Kai nudged himself off the wall turning from the cracked window he was staring out of to the assembled group.

"I am Kai. I am in my late teens and have blended with the three tailed turtle demon Sanbi. The Sanbi fearing for its life left the last host it had and melded with me when I was a little child. As a consequence of his actions Sanbi can no longer leave for another host body due to him being entangled in my chakra coils. After the blending I hid from the world within waterfall village until the day that Sanbi would be called upon by his leader the nine tailed demon fox. Many months previously we had felt a chakra spike that washed over the shinobi countries, indicating that our leader was on the move. When I felt our leader on the outskirts of Waterfall I packed all I had and left to follow them. It is my duty to serve Naruto as a stand in for Mistress Hitomi. My goal is to see his ambitions come to fruition. I hate sharks and the missing nin Kakuzu as he is an abomination of a human being, he is also responsible for killing off all ties I had to my family before he went rogue. I am Master Naruto's adviser in all respects. I do sometimes like to be a smartass according to Master Naruto." finishing up he returned to his lax position next to the window. Yugito who was holding onto a squirming Hanabi stared at Naruto for a moment before she spoke.

"My name is Yugito Nii and I am from the land of Lightning Cloud village. I am 13 years old and contain the necromancy demon Nibi the two tailed cat. Until recently I was living a semi pleasant life in Cloud however when a new Raikage was chosen I was quickly singled out and became a leper in the eyes of the village. I am convinced that the newly instated Lightning shadow wished to turn me into a weapon to wage war against the hidden leaf for their loss in the Great ninja war but Naruto Gaara and Kai found me before such a thing could take place. I look older in the physical sense due to Nibi's influence on my body." Naruto cast a knowing look at Yugito knowing she neglected to reveal some info but he didn't mind much, the others that didn't know didn't need to know. Yugito went back to watching over Hanabi, her face taking on a look that Naruto had never seen before.

"Hey Temari I think your up." Kankuro said in a low tone nudging his sister.

"My name is Temari; I am the older sister of Gaara and Kankuro at 10 years old. I wish to amend my bonds with Gaara and to repay Naruto for helping Gaara find peace. I dream to one day become the world most powerful Wind Master. I don't like stupid people and I love the feel of the wind against my face. I'm not sure what else to say …"

"It's alright Temari, whatever your comfortable with saying is fine, no one is going to pressure you into saying something you don't want to." Naruto calmly said. Temari ducked her head in thanks before withdrawing, nudging Kankuro forward.

"I'm Kankuro, the older brother of Gaara and an aspiring puppet user. Until recently I was scared of Gaara for Shukaku being inside him but thank to Naruto I don't have to be anymore. I'm 9 years old and dislike my father foe being a dick. I dream of surpassing Sasori of the red sands in the puppetry field." Moving to pass the torch Kai perked up.

"Kid what's with the makeup?" this caused a few people to chuckle and Kankuro's face to redden.

"Its not MAKEUP dammit!" he yelled drawing a sharp look from both Yugito and Naruto.

"Keep your voice down moron, there is a kid trying to-" a loud cry from Hanabi interrupted Naruto's scolding.

"Great now look what you did…while Yugito and I handle this Gaara introduce yourself." Naruto muttered, motioning Gaara with a wave of his hand as he and Yugito focused on Hanabi. The red head shifted a bit uneasy but collected himself.

"I am Gaara, I come from the Hidden Sand village of Wind country. I am eight years old, only older than Naruto by a few months. I contain within me the incarnation of sand, Shukaku the one tailed racoon dog. I fled the sand Village alongside Naruto after he helped stabilize the demon. My likes are many but I'll just give a short list. I like to sleep, make fun of Shukaku, practicing my manipulation capabilities. I dislike people who hate people like me or Naruto for biased reasons, and cocky people who just don't know when to shut up." He spared a glance towards Naruto, and then cut a glance to Kai. "Finally my dream is…my dream is" he cupped his chin in a thoughtful pose. "…you know what I think I'll have to get back to you guys on that, I have to think of a dream coz I don't have one. Well that's me, if you want to ask questions I'll be more than happy to answer them. I guess now its Naruto's turn." Gaara's amused expression wasn't missed by anyone accept Yugito and Naruto who were still trying to, and very slowly, getting Hanabi back to sleep.

"Someone else go, we'll get back to me as soon as we can get Hanabi to sleep" the sound of sniffing could be heard from Naruto. "…Yuk! I think I know why she's not sleepy at the moment. Stay right here, Kazumi sensei could you lend me a hand please, thank you. You might want to come to Yugito, you might need to learn this for later. " Seconds after leaving the dark room everyone got green in the face. They quickly vacated the room for a better ventilated area, screw staying there for them to get back.

end flashback

The feeling of hands slapping against his painted cheeks brought him back to the present, he saw a very happy Temari and an amused group of faces.

"Have a nice trip down memory lane, makeup boy?" Temari asked jokingly, making Kankuro go red in the face with anger.

"Do not make fun of Kankuro Temari, the lane of memories as you call it actually exists, its easy enough to find , it's the 3rd right turn on the Road of Life. I got lost there once, met up with a grey haired cycloptic scarecrow, he was one of the weirdest people I've every met, reading an orange book I've seen so many others reading." Everyone around Kai sweat dropped.

"Weren't we going to introduce ourselves to the townspeople and make sure they're alright?" reminded a smirking Kazumi. Forgetting about Kai's weird episode they all composed themselves and headed towards the nearby town. This was going to be interesting. Kai shrugged Gaara onto his back, the red heads body limp like a stringless puppet.

There were many thing that Naruto could say that he could deal with, with ease; it turned out that sea travel wasn't one of them. It could have been a combination of factors, the swaying of the cargo ship or the noise of the water smashing against the side of the ship but it might've been the fact that both he and Hanabi were hiding in a small shipping crate with little ventilation, in a not so sturdy cargo hold.

"Dad?" Hanabi's soft voce hit his ears.

"What is it princess?" he asked the girl in his lap. He felt her squirm in his arms.

"I need to go."

"Go where?" he asked confused. She opened her eyes and stared at him.

"Oh! You mean you have to…why didn't you say so?" Shifting slightly Naruto took hold of Hanabi's hand and dissolved the crate they were hiding in.

"Which 1 is it Princess, one or two?" Hanabi held up the 'bunny sign' as he called it.

'Great, that will require a bit more effort to keep us hidden.' Glancing around the area he saw a fairly large crate with 'Gatuo Corp' stamped on it. A smile grew on his face as he charged his fee hand with chakra and plunged his free hand forward and into it, the side of the crate seemed to melt as it was exposed to the superheated hand creating a sizable hole in the huge box. Stepping into the crate he grafted a toilet bowl for her to use and left again saying that she could answer nature's call. Hanabi have her dad a grateful smile before doing exactly that. meanwhile Naruto started to think about his future village, while he had thought about it for sinse he left the Leaf Village most of his planning was done with Kai and Kazumi briefly before they split up.

He pondered the idea of ceasing control of an already populated village and converting it to a military stronghold but there were several flaws in that plan, one the residents of that village may react badly to that and that just wouldn't work id one was trying to create a hidden village. On the other hand creating a village from scratch would be even harder as he would have to somehow draw people there to live and to be trained in his ninja art. He was considering the second option for the sole reason that he didn't want to take over a civilian village, they would look upon his like a tyrant more than likely and no one would respect or listen to him.

'Perhaps if I could bargain with a village as a whole to set up shop we could prevent a whole lot of ugliness and civil distain…I like that option way better.' He pondered in his head, still waiting for Hanabi to finish. He shook his head, when she had to go boy did she go.

* * *

The village chief listened to the small group that had popped out of nowhere to save then from the demon attack. He was amazed at the sheer power and authority that they possessed, he was no ninja but from his reckoning there was no human alive that would be able to go toe to toe with a demon and survive let alone win. And from what he had heard from them their leader was on his way towards them and that he possessed skills far beyond even the most powerful of Kages. He was half tempted to get them to stay here in the village to help defend them from such an event like what just happened again but hearing of their goals and their leaders' dream of creating a militant presence close to here he wasn't quite sure. His village, albeit on the small side was one of the only settlements on Nagi Island that was peaceful, the other two that were situated on the far ends of the island and didn't take kindly to outsiders sense the start of the Hidden Mist's Bloodline Massacre. He was a little uneasy with them as they were travelling with demons and didn't seen to be all that phased about it.

"I would like to extend an invitation for you to stay for a couple of days or at the very least until your leader arrives. When can we expect him to arrive?"

"Our leader will probably arrive in two to four days, he's coming from the Hidden Mist, I can't recall him specifying why though." Kazumi said thoughtfully. The chief jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together.

"Excellent. Please take the time until your leader arrives to rest up and recuperate, I daresay that small children such as these shouldn't be robbed of the most basic of needs as proper food or the comfort of a proper place to sleep." Before Kazumi could even mutter a word Temari was already up doing a little jig.

"Finally it's about time! These boys have no idea of hygiene." She yelled, quickly ducking behind Kazumi from embarrassment.

'You can say that again child, you can say that again.' Kazumi thought as the chief, Yugito and herself laughed at the boy's facial expressions. Several hours later Kazumi found herself sitting on a futon in a room with the other three girls of their group spread around the place in various passed out positions, they had been playing small 'indoor games' after they had cleaned themselves of the sweat and grime that had accumulated during their travels. Sparing a glance to the window from the scroll that she was writing in she rolled it back a bit before drawing in a few more lines on the scroll. The scroll itself was about 90 centimetres my 90 centimetres with complex seals scrawled all over it. What made it incredible however was the massive seal that was drawn in the middle that all the other seals were connected to, dozens of scribbled notes all over the scroll forming to anyone but those acute with sealing a, bunch of gibberish.

"A seal like this is near impossible to implement, just what in the world are you planning on doing with it Naruto? I'm not even sure even correctly applied and maintained it will do as you want." a frustrated sigh later and she rolled the entire scroll up and sealed it with a Blood sealing script, after which she placed in a storage scroll and sealed it away again. Doing this process a few dozen times she stored the scroll-scroll-scroll in a bag lined with chakra sensitive all purpose tag that she had also created. The process was one that she had created a great many years ago, it was a simple tag that did the following processes when activated, it self destructed, it electrocuted and burned whoever wasn't the creator of the said tag and in case that didn't work the storage scrolls that she had used to seal it away in also had a few of those in them. After this she wrote several dozen containment seals on it, a dozen more then what was on it the last time she worked on it. She was lucky that she had all the storage scrolls she did, the chakra that was being pumped through that sealing matrix every time it was worked on needed to be masked and hidden as it wasn't something that could just be carried around.

'I hope that will hold, I just prey that its enough to contain it till Naruto shows up, there's only so much I can do to contain this thing before it breaks free. I don't want to be around when it does eventually.' She thought as she felt the scroll move a bit in the bag. Letting out an uneasy breath she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off into a fitful sleep clutching in her hands another scroll with the word Pentagram Shroud Seal written on it. All of Naruto's plans for the future rested in her ability to create and teach him the Sealing art and how to set up and maintain this array of complex sealing.

outskirt of the village

A shadowed figure eyed the town that had been attacked by the rampaging Gaara. The damage from what he could see was minimal but the evidence that there had been a battle here was unmistakable, there was a building that had been half demolished. Being well versed in the ninja arts he could tell that what caused the damage was not human. Apparently these he was seeking were here, maybe if he was quick and to the point he'd be able to do what he had planned before they had any idea of what he was doing or why. The pale completion and white haired man allowed himself a small smirk to cross his face. He would get the training he needed from these _creatures_ so that he could liberate his home. After hearing about his exploits the man knew without a doubt that this _chakra demon _as he called himself was exactly the kind of person he-no, _they_ needed. He just hoped that he could make up a really good cover story, it wasn't every day that someone tried to outwit a demon, and given if the rumours going around the elemental countries were true these were the cream of the crop of all demons. The smirk faded from his face as he began hi trek towards the sleeping town, he swallowed thickly pausing briefly before continuing onward.

"Let's get this show on the road." He said with a little hick in it, this was going to be interesting.

a few days later- Fire Country

A white haired man leant against the wall of the office he was in. he wished he could be anywhere else then here at the moment but the old man sitting opposite him wouldn't allow it.

"Aside from the usual happenings anything unusual to report to me?" he asked, the age lines on his face crinkled slightly when he was done, taking a pipe out of nowhere and tipping ash into the bowl before lighting it and puffing on it lightly.

"You probably won't hear of it will a few more weeks but the blood purges of the Hidden Mist have ceased. This news was rushed to me and I got it last night. From what information I was given an entire village of ninja was defeated by a group of 30 or so rougues. My source also said that this guy had with him a little girl of about three years of age, said that her name was Hanabi. Though her face was well guarded a can hazard a guess I'd say that she had pale lavender eyes." This new information peaked Sarutobi's curiosity. Three years ago Hiashi had burst into his office after the rioting of the village had been quelled. At the time because of the state of the village after the attack he couldn't send out a squad out to search for her, a fact that Hiashi hated. It was no secret that he favoured Hanabi over his eldest daughter and Sarutobi knew without a doubt that he was planning of making Hanabi the clan heir and branding Hinata with the Caged Bird Seal. Hanabi's kidnapping threw a wrench in that plan, if Hiashi was to hear about a possibility of his daughter alive he would do everything in his power to get her back, she had the full potential of the Hyuuga bloodline at her disposal and that could end badly for Konoha if any of their enemies got a hold of it.

"Did you manage to get a name or description of the man in question?" the Hokage asked, if he was even going to suggest a recovery operation he had to know who it was that Hanabi was with.

"No name was mentioned but my informant did say that this guy wore a large black trench coat, with a black complete mask with weird symbols carved in the forehead, the look sounds familiar to me for some reason but I can't place it…Err sensei are you alright, you look like you've seen a ghost or something." The white haired pervert asked.

"It…it can't be…shit! Jiraiya that's the guy who wiped out Rain's high ranked ninja with a single blow. We're talking about a being that possesses skills completely alien to the known shinobi world; he was even a match for a tailed beast." Sarutobi exclaimed. Jiraiya looked at his teacher with a raised eyebrow.

"You have to be pulling my leg, my sources say that this guy is only a kid, he hasn't even hit puberty yet." the hermit scoffed.

"I know because I saw it up close and personal, I was there when the tailed beast was subdued. I felt this boy's power and it is frightening. If Hanabi is in his company we have no chance at attempting retrieval, its guaranteed suicide. But even though she cannot be brought back, keep an eye out on her if you can. Do you know where they are now?" Sarutobi asked quickly, not giving his old student a chance to ask about the display of power he had witnessed.

"My Intel suggests that they were headed south over the sea to one of the islands."

'I wonder why there of all places, there isn't anything of any get significance there…'

"Sensei if this guy is as strong as you say then he might be a threat to the village. Not that I care much what happens to this village for what the populus did to Minato's kid."

"I know how you feel Jiraiya believe me but you know as well as I that there is nothing we can do about it. From what I can tell from all you've told me, the boy is bound to no village therefore he is neutral. Just hope that the kid stays that way." A low grunt was all the Hokage got in response.

"Lets just hope old man that the council doesn't act foolishly when they hear the news. I wish you could have just dismissed the council as a whole. Their decisions on how to run things are going to get us all killed one day." Jiraiya nudged himself of the wall, heading for the window.

"Thank you for stopping by Jiraiya. Before you go could you please send me any new information about this boy when you get it, I feel as though I'll need every advantage if I am to outgun the council in their debating I can feel coming." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Will you be alright doing this Jiraiya?" the white haired man gave a single nod.

"I have work to do, see you round sensei." After that he vanished. Sarutobi sighed as he looked at the remaining paperwork on his desk.

"I am getting too old for this shit…" he growled as he threw his pen in the bin with all the other empty ones and getting another from one of his desk draws to continue his work.

* * *

AN: OK people, this will be it for a while, i hope that it satisfies you for now. It actually went longer then I though that it was going to.

Ideas, questions and quiries are welcome in reviews as well as errors that I made and didn't pick up.

on that note I have something to ask, since i started this fic i haven't had a beta read over any of it. i don't have a beta for this story but i would really like one. if you think you'd fit the bill put your name forward. Anyone who want to however has to meet the pre set criteria for being a beta on this site they are:

Be a registered member for at least 1 month or more. Must have published at least 5 stories on the site OR have published entries totaling at least 6000 words.

Other then that theres nothing else to say but Review, i have an idea of what direction I want to steer this story in, if you like this chapter then it means that you'll get a kick out of this story in the future.

Before ANYONE does anything however i want to make one thing very clear: 1. the pairing poll is closed. 2. Anyone who asks for Hinata or is thinking about it better reconsider because i am NOT going to do it. END. . (Yes she is OOC, its part of my plan). 3. the final pairing has been chosen,this story was but under the character filter Naruto and Kyuubi for a good reason. Naruto will have a girlfriend or two (seperately, i will not do multiple girls to a guy, in any shape or form) before he gets together with Hitomi.

i did try to make the fighting scenes as descriptive as possible. and those that are going to attack me for Naruto being too powerful that he could hurt the Michael Jackson impersonator so easily, I. DON'T. GIVE. A. FLYING. FUCK.

Lastly there wasn't much input from Hitomi because i chose to write it like that, if anyone has a problem with it Stuff you.

Got it, Good.

That's all from me, now be nice and hit that review button, come on you know you want to.


	10. Coming Together and Moving Forward

Here it is, the long awaited chapter 10.

I know that the wait was a long one but I do have a reason! the reason it took me almost up to year to update this story was believe it or not Year 12 final exams, in which I passed and have since then taken up tertiary study so its a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire meaning that this may be the last chapter in a long long time but I promise you this, I will never abandon this story, though a little suspense here and there isn't bad either. I will adhere to update sooner and for the waiting period to be short but one just doesn't come up with ideas for a progressing story off the fly. Another one of my excuses is that although it looks easy, typing up 22 thousand words and making them flow relatively well with few mistakes and errors isn't easy, which to that point I've been looking for a few beta readers for the past few months that would be willing to lend me a hand here and there in the bits and pieces in my work that I am not great in. To that end I want to again apologize for the up to a year wait and let you get on with the story.

Enjoy!

* * *

It had taken them a while to get there but they finally made it, Nagi Island in the Land of Sea. Naruto, with his daughter at his side, walked down a dirt path, the ship port behind them in the darkness that the heavy night pressed onto the land. In the distance a ship sat out on the sea, unmoving and silent, water smashing into the giant hulk of metal. Casting a lone eye behind him Naruto closed his eyes behind his now half masked face.

'I warned them, they chose not to listen.' With less than an instant later the ground shuddered as the floating hulk vanished in a dance of dark blue flames, sinking to the bottom of the sea. Sighing Naruto held his daughter's hand tighter as they continued, Hanabi walking with him in a comfortable silence glancing at the mark on her left under wrist. It was a hollow black circle with dancing ink in it, moving hypnotically in the moonlight that shined on it. Her free hand idly went to the back of her neck where the other pattern was located; it was a small three center meter big pentagram seal that had jagged patterns inside it unlike the beauty of the one on her wrist. When her dad had applied the seals Hanabi noted the words that he had spoken and committed them to memory.

Flashback

'Hanabi the seal on your neck works with this one on your wrist. Until I tell you otherwise you are not to under any circumstances think about the one on either your wrist or on your neck. Look at them but you are to never until my say so attempt to release them.'

End Flashback

When she asked why he had just said that he wanted what was best for her and the best thing for her to do was to believe and trust in him. She was shaken out of her thoughts as her dad stopped suddenly, red strings erupting from her dads back, swatting a fast flying something out of the air.

"I don't have time to be playing silly games; I have somewhere I need to be so if you'd be so kind as to get out of my way there won't be any need for any unpleasantness." Naruto said his voice eerily calm. The form of a red head man seemingly sprouting from the ground was all the response Naruto got. Eying him, Naruto saw a few things, one of them being from Earth Country, Hidden Rock to be exact. He had red hair tied in a rough high pony tail with a topless hat for his forehead protector which had a strip of material over the middle of his face. Naruto mused at his state of dress and appearance, his beard and mustache were matted with moisture and his pink and brown color clothes were dripping slightly suggesting that he had just been taking a swim.

"I got to say you really aren't very easy to find, I went half way across the elemental nations following breadcrumbs that you left behind and still it took me months to finally catch up to you. I have to say though, I'm not very impressed, I was expecting something more than this, and you don't look like much to me." His rough voice said cynically. Naruto didn't say anything, he just eyed this newcomer wearily, he could sense a familiar presence about this man, he just couldn't put his finger on it. The red haired man turned his eyes to Hanabi.

"To say that I was surprised that you had taken a Hyuuga child of all things with you when you broke out of the Leaf Village is an understatement. What are planning on doing, holding her for ransom or something?" he paused briefly watching Naruto. "Eh, what are you doing?" the older male jerked backwards as he felt a great weight settle in on his stomach.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Naruto voice cut through the air like a steel blade.

"Chill out kid no need for violence; I'm a demon container, just like you. Could you release me please, I mean you and the girl no harm." The pressure increased a small fraction, the red head gulped audibly.

'_**Naruto this man holds Yonbi, the four tailed lizard. Due to his age he may hold a strong connection to his village and he looks like a man on a mission so be on your guard.'**_ Hitomi advised her jailer. Giving a mental nod of acknowledgment Naruto released his hold on the man's chakra letting him breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm Rōshi, a jounin from the Hidden Rock Village from Earth country." Naruto made no move to say that he had acknowledged the Rock ninja. Noticing this Rōshi continued quickly. "Remember that massive chakra wave you sent all over the Elemental nations all that time ago? It has the Yonbi on a crazed streak and he won't calm down, so much so that I can't maintain complete control. The Tsuchikage has sent me to find you so that I may continue my duties. We have also lost something very valuable to our village, another demon container who holds Gobi." A tense silence fixed itself around the immediate area. Naruto shook his head.

"Sorry to say but I can't accommodate you on either of those requests." Naruto paused a moment before continuing.

"You may find this hard to believe but each of the tailed beasts are actually living sentient beings that feel just as humans do. The Yonbi is being a handful because he's trying to find the nine tails, which has led you to me, the container of the nine tailed fox. It is a shame that you will have to leave here empty handed as I cannot in good conscience hand Gobi over to you or your village." Rōshi moved to argue but Naruto cut him off.

"Gobi has since been freed from his host and has aligned himself with me. The tailed beast are being sort after by an organization called Akatsuki, it is my duty as the container of the nine tailed fox and as her host, her representative on the human plane, to ensure that no tailed beast falls prey to the clutches of that organization. To properly combat this I have devised a gathering of all of the tailed beasts and or their containers to unite under one banner, though it seems that this may be a little difficult with you being from the Hidden Rock village. Because of this Gobi will stay with me as will the rest of the tailed beasts that I come across." Naruto paused again to let his words simmer in Rōshi;s head.

"I will not force you to join me but know this, at the end of the day you can only rely on those similar to you, you may be a jounin of the Hidden Rock Village but they will turn on you the minute you are no longer able to be of use to them, when you are no longer able to work effectively with the beast and use its power as they want you to, you will find yourself in a position of scorn for you're village and begin to fear you, especially since they are still licking their wounds from the last great war. Give my regards to the Tsuchikage." Naruto said as he began walking again going right passed Rōshi whose face and eyes were twitching, changing colors and his chakra fluctuating rather violently, from human to demonic.

"This was an interesting first meeting Rōshi , Yonbi. I hope to be seeing you both again soon in the future, hopefully under better circumstances." Naruto said idly as he and Hanabi increased the distance between them and Rōshi . With nothing less than a whisper Naruto and Hanabi seemingly vanished into the night.

* * *

Hanabi and Naruto were resting peacefully, Hanabi lying comfortably on her father's stomach as he lay in a hammock that he had crafted within a small grove of trees. Naruto's eyes popped open, adjusting them to the dim light. They had found a cave to settle in soon after their encounter with Rōshi.

Due to his daughter's frequent and audible yawns he cleared out an occupied cave and settled into it for Hanabi to get some rest. While Hanabi rested her fatigued body Naruto traveled to Hitomi's domain within his mind to continue their one on one instruction on his controlling of external chakra. There was a small piece of information that she had let slip but when he asked her about it she refused to elaborate.

Afterwards they got to work with the creating of more internal chakra battery seals so that his body had a backup source to draw on when he needed to completely focus on the battle and not maintaining human form. She had also told him another reason for stockpiling the chakra that he was receiving from her; simply put, the more he had of her chakra the harder it would be for him to maintain complete concentration. With him sealing her chakra away for further use, his own chakra had the chance to grow to maintain the balance between the two types.

She had told him that he needed balance or else he'd grow either too aggressive with his behavior towards everyone, the demon chakra in him would change his body into the one that Konoha was introduced to when she had attacked there years ago, essentially the more raw demon chakra he had freely running though his body the more visible changes would show. She hypothesized that he would forgo a human form and unconsciously take on a form that the power was comfortable with.

Naruto grunted as his head separated from the big cushion that Hanabi had taken as her temporary bed. Naruto's eyes were closed with concentration as chakra tentacles grew from his neck down, essentially growing the rest of his body from the neck down. His body completely sprouted and completely formed he checked his reserves. The separating of the two parts of his body was not as hard as he thought it to be, the hard part was growing his body back while maintaining focus for the mass of chakra he separated from.

This was the first step he had to master, Hitomi had decided, in order for him to in the future clone himself like she had seen done multiple times by many people in her long life.

The cave that they had huddled in wasn't all that great, just a simple hole in the rock, outside there was a semi massive plane of grass and weeds with a dust path some ways in the distance, where the two of them had come from last night.

'Hey Hitomi-Sensei how long do you think it'd take for Gobi to locate us with his nose?'

'_**Not very long if my guess is correct, he would have picked up your scent from the beach. He should be here soon.' **_Naruto smiled at this news, there was quite a few things he had to discuss with the others. Minutes later Hanabi jostled awake by a slight tremor.

"Hanabi get up, Gobi's here to lead us to Grandma Kazumi and the rest of our family." Naruto said quietly as he picked her up into hid arms, the massive pillow she was sleeping on assimilating to the rest of his body. At the mention of her grandma Hanabi was wide awake.

"Really? We get to see paint boy and pony tail girl again?" Naruto laughed.

"Yes really but I don't think that you should call them that, it's rude and it will hurt their feelings, its Kankuro and Temari remember?" Naruto admonished, noticing a small dust cloud in the distance slowly growing bigger. Moments later Gobi was in front of them, his face impassive, all business.

'Oh crap…something happened... what could it be?' Naruto thought as he pulled Hanabi away from Gobi as she was patting and stroking him like a pet.

"It seems as though I missed out on something, big, come on Hanabi lets get going." Shape shifting to fox form Naruto hefted her onto his back via one of his many tails.

"Hold on tight sweetie, we'll be going fast. Take a deep breathe." After making sure that she followed his instruction he launched off, following Gobi as he shot off like a rocket to the town where the others were staying.

* * *

Kazumi stood at the border of the town, waiting for Gobi to come back from wherever he had ran off to. That had been 5 minutes ago and she was starting to get a bad feeling. Her ill feeling ebbed away slightly as she saw the tell tale sign that was Gobi running in the distance. The feeling came back as she saw another dust storm behind the dog demon; could the Akatsuki have found them? The idea was not too far fetched, Naruto had described their resources to be vast and spread through the entire continent. She relaxed completely however when she heard a happy shriek coming from the second dust storm.

He was finally here, Naruto had arrived.

"About bloody time you showed up." She said out loud to herself as a small smile sprouted on her face. Hopefully his small adventure had him bring some good news, for she had some good news of her own to share.

The stomping of Gobi's approach drew the attention of the other people in the village, curios on what the approaching dust storm was. An elderly lady with faded brown hair looked on in anticipation at the approaching figures, she had lived in this small village her entire life and in all her years the sudden arrival of a small packed group had the town buzzing with activity she hadn't seen since before she was born. She glanced around seeing that the spectacle had drawn quite a crowd.

As the two figures' speeds slowed, everyone could begin to make out who it was. The first being the brown fur coat of Gobi, the one responsible for saving their town from being swallowed up by sand; the other draw some interesting responses from the assembled crowd. The other was a red furred fox with a small girl riding on its back.

When the dust behind both animals settled the spectators caught the sight of the 9 flying tails behind the fox taking some of them for a spin. A nine tailed fox? It wasn't the nine tailed beast of legend was it? That creature was dusted a long time ago. They were floored when the fox seemed to rear back on its hind legs righting itself, the fur seemingly sinking into itself replacing it with a heavy black cloak, the head of the fox being pulled into itself reforming into a human face, the whiskers however, remained behind.

The words that came from Miss Shioha sent them for a whirl.

"It has been a while Naruto, how has my little firecracker been?" a loud cry of "Grandma!" echoed around the village at the comment making Kazumi laugh heartily. Naruto gave a small laugh at his daughter who bopped him on the head with her small hands. Whilst doing this Hanabi's long sleeves moved up slightly, revealing to the world her wrist seal gaining the attention of Kazumi whom shot a stern look at her pupil.

Naruto however gave her a placating look putting his hands up in defense of what he knew was coming.

"Hello sensei, how has everyone been during my absence?" he asked cheerily. Kazumi's expression changed almost instantly making Naruto straighten up slightly, something was up.

"What's happened?" Naruto asked, now a little bit scared for his traveling party.

"It's Gaara and Shukaku. Shortly after arriving on the island Gaara went crazy, Shukaku possessed Gaara's body and started a rampage. For the safety of everyone I placed a seal on him after he was beaten, to keep the spirit that possessed Shukaku away from direct influence. I'll tell you everything after you've had a bit of rest and found Hanabi something to eat, I'm guessing she's quite hungry and hasn't had much in the way of breakfast yet." She said while turning inward to the place that they were staying, drawing stares and whispers from the onlookers, making Naruto a little bit uncomfortable.

"Relax Naruto, this village owes their lives to us, they won't harm us in any way. In fact they view us as saviors and as you are the leader of this small band of demons and humans they will show the uttermost respect for you, you have no reason to be anxious." Kazumi said, seeing the way that Naruto was acting to the attention that they were receiving.

* * *

Yugito and Kai, stood on either side of an unconscious Gaara, a large sealing paper placed over his head. Once Kazumi had applied the seal, she had insisted that the two of them stand guard in case anything should happen to Gaara or should Gaara wake up suddenly. Temari and Kankuro sat off to the side of the small room consisting of a double bed and a bedside table with a chest of draws by the wall.

The brother sister duo starred at their youngest brother with a hybrid feeling of panic and worry as they had never been this close to a comatose Gaara without something disastrous happening. The room had an uneasy atmosphere to it as Kai and Yugito respectfully were on full alert in case the unthinkable should happen.

The sound of the door to the room opening drew the attention of everyone conscious, looking to see three figures walk through the door frame.

"...Then Dad did this thing with his hands then BANG!" Hanabi exclaimed spreading her arms wide indicating an explosion. Being given a look Naruto shrugged it off before turning to the restrained red head.

"Hello Kai, Yugito, Temari, Kankuro…how is Gaara doing, has he moved at all since this happened?" Naruto asked, getting straight to business. They shook their heads, negative.

"Good." He turned his head to the sand duo. "How are you two holding up, are you both ok?" Naruto asked, concerned for his friend's brother and sister. Neither sibling said anything for a second before Temari suddenly flung herself at Naruto, latching onto Naruto and crying on his shoulder, letting loose her emotions she'd bottled up since this had happened.

"Please Naruto…help Gaara, there's so many things I need to make up for. Please if you can do anything…" Temari begged. Naruto patted Temari on the back, but did not saying anything; he didn't want to say he could do something, anything, for the slight chance that he couldn't. Naruto turned to address everyone present.

"Ok here's what's going to happen…Kai and Yugito take Temari and Kankuro with Hanabi to get something to eat, it looks like you need it, you haven't eaten for a while have you?" he nodded understanding when they nodded their heads.

"I will do what I can for Gaara." Naruto handed Hanabi to Yugito as everyone filed out. When the door closed Naruto turned to Kazumi.

"Hitomi and I will enter the domain of Shukaku in Gaara's mind and combat the internal portion of the seal, I need you to reseal Shukaku when I've broken and exorcised the monk. Before I do however I need you to tell me where the eight inner Chakra gates are located on the body." This caused Kazumi to look at him in astonishment.

"How do you know about them?" she asked alermed before calming down a moment later before shaking her head. "You know what, never mind. The first, the Gate of Opening in the brain, the second, the Gate of Rest is next to the first in the head, third to the seventh, gate of Life, Pain, Limit, View and Wonder all along the spinal cord. The eighth the Gate of Death is located at the heart." She recited watching as s tail of red chakra lodged themselves into the areas that she had listed after fist flipping Gaara into his side.

"When I'm completely inside him remove the seal on his head and break open the seal holding Shukaku, I'll do the rest." Without another word Naruto's body slowly lost all its features as he injected himself into Gaara's system. Once all traces of Naruto had vanished she removed the seal she placed on his forehead and began the process of breaking the containment seal.

* * *

The first thing Naruto noticed when he collected his bearings was that he was in a sewer tunnel like the one in his mind and if not for a great deal more water filling up the tunnel and the walls being darker and dirtier he would have passed it off as his own.

**"You never know, your mind could have been like this had you never met me."** Hitomi said from behind him making him jump 10 feet in the air.

"Jeez! Don't do that Hitomi; you almost gave me a heart attack." He said taking a calming breath for a second before his mind caught up with him.

"How the hell are you here sensei?" Naruto demanded pointing his index figure at the smirking vixen.

**"You entered Gaara's system as a form of energy, so naturally mine went along with it; as long as we are in here I'm my own person…except for this thing."** She pointed at a small cuff on her right hand then pointed to his left to show the exact same cuff.

**"Well it looks to me as if we're truly inseparable. Anyway this isn't the time to be dawdling we're here for a purpose, lets do what we have to do and get out of here."** She ordered irritably.

The two of them started treading through the high sewer water, neither saying anything though Naruto was starting to feel a little anxious. After a few minutes of silence Naruto noticed something, though the pathway were very similar to each other Naruto knew that they had been gong in circles.

"Hold it! Do we even know where we're going because I'm pretty certain we've turned this corner before…wait a second what the hell is that?" Naruto called as the duo saw something rushing towards them at high speed from within the oppressing darkness of the sewer like labyrinth. They didn't have time to contemplate on it however as it smashed into Naruto knocking him backwards and flip backwards head first into the high water. A second later Naruto's body shifted, his head forming out of his ass and legs where his head was.

**"Well that was interesting. I can tell you what that was now; remember how I entered Gaara's body? I entered through the eight gates and that was part of my power that was split from me when we entered. There are still six more of those racing around in here; the good news is that they will find us over time so we don't have to go looking for them. As an added effect wherever they've been I now have knowledge of so where we need to go isn't in that direction."** Any reply that Hitomi had was cut off when the entire foundation for the maze like mindscape started to shake violently.

"What the hell is that?" Naruto shouted to be heard over the deafening noise that the shaking was causing. Naruto eyed Hitomi for an explanation.

**"It must be the possessed Shukaku, the outward seal must have been removed meaning that the bastard has full rein. If this continues there won't be anything left of Gaara to save. I can stop it but I'll have to leave you for until you confront, defeat and kill the monk. You'll have to extract the flesh-bag from Shukaku before you can kill it though, use this on him when you see him, it should do the trick."** She speedily grabbed Naruto into a hug. **"Good luck."** After which she faded away. Naruto stalled, having to see if Hitomi was successful, the almost immediate ceasing of the earthquake like shakes almost made him fell face fist in the water again.

"Well, I better get going, there's no telling how long it'll take to find that bloody monk spirit."

* * *

Kazumi was badly startled when the red head started to thrash around violently for a few seconds after she had removed the monk's seal. She was calmed slightly when a red aura surrounded the comatose boy and calmed down completely when the thrashing ceased only just noticing a trail of sand behind her that was advancing towards the unconscious red head.

* * *

For what seemed ages to the blonde, Naruto was running on the top of the sewer trying to locate his soon to be opponent. Expectedly another high speed body charge chakra sphere smashed into Naruto's head blowing him of his feet and throwing him back several dozen feet. Dizzily Naruto shook his head as he regained focus and the portion of his being re-assimilated itself.

'That was the 6th Gates portion of chakra and it looks like I'm going in the right direction. I probably shouldn't go so fast along this corridor if the other portions are so close together." Naruto decided afterwards that he'd wait in the same place and wait for those parts to come to him to save him being smacked around by them.

As he sat on the water and waited for the other parts to realign themselves with him he was concocting a strategy to combat the fanatical spirit.

'A front on assault is literal suicide as he would have the complete advantage in such a conflict, I don't have any effective long range based offensive attacks either…which means that'll have to go about manipulating his attacks back at him. Maybe if I can get Gaara to help me if he's able, it is his mind after all…but he'll most likely be trapped within the spirit' he groaned in frustration.

'Not only do I have to beat the damn monk but I have to make sure that Gaara is alright while I fight him, this is really troublesome.' Peering down the hallway Naruto caught the glimpse of part of his essence. Bracing himself he stuck himself to the water he was sitting on. When the force hit him he slid a little bit from his position with a grunt.

From the 5th gate Naruto concluded that the monk had control of the gates from the 4th to the 1st meaning that he would have to go collect them himself as they were in the monk's domain within Gaara's body. Naruto's body shimmered into a standing position.

"Ok then, time to get going. The sooner Hitomi and I get out of here the better." With only the echo of his words on the tunnels as parting words Naruto shot off down the tunnel.

* * *

Kankuro and Temari ate at a subdued pace across from Yugito, Kai and Hanabi, the latter two were listening to Hanabi who was talking about the things that she and Naruto did while they were away.

"...Then just before Gobi came and found us Dad gave me this," Hanabi showing the seal under her wrist. Kai and Yugito starred in astonishment.

"Is that a…" Kai started.

"Storage and release seal for my chakra, Dad said that when I'm old enough and the seal turns bright blue instead of black he'll teach me how to use it. Dad said that this would be the secret weapon of our village's strength and power." Hanabi said joyfully. Hanabi having brandished the seal prompted glances from the two siblings on the other side of the table.

"Is he going to put that on us?" Temari asked with nervousness evident in her voice.

"It would seem that the seal is for the storage and use of chakra in the physical sense for those without a demon inside them. If I may say so, the seal is incomplete without a command seal for the seal and release commands." Kai said sagely. Without a word Hanabi showed them the seal on the base of the neck making all the onlookers go wide eyed.

"Is that safe?" Kankuro asked, trying to get a closer look at the neck seal. Hanabi shot him an indignant stare, making Kankuro recoil.

"My dad would never do anything to harm me; he put a lot of time and effort into these two seals to make them safe. He planted these on me now so that the chakra has enough time to build up to a good level, when it turns light blue there is enough power in it. Dad had to make me promise and I know he'll do the same for everyone else he gives them to, that until he thinks their ready to learn he won't teach them anything or he'll make the seals useless." She gave a massive heave for having spoken for so long.

She tilted her head to the side, closed her eyes and smiled at everyone at the table.

"So what is there to do for fun around here, anything exciting?" Hanabi asked with anticipation.

"Well we don't exactly know much about this town or its people, the only reason we're here is because the town thinks of us as heroes for stopping Gaara. We've not had the time to look around because of what's happened." Yugito answered glumly, putting a damper on the lavender eyed girl. Seconds later a bright light seemed to shine in her pale purple orbs.

"I have a great idea! While Grandma, mum and dad deal with the Gaara problem we can look around the town, Dad wants to set up the village on these islands so we'll be doing him a favor." She said excitedly. The two sibling at the table adorned similar gleams in their eyes at this opportunity whilst Yugito and Kai were looking at her weirdly.

'Did she just say MUM and dad?' Yugito and Kai thought silently as the three younger children started to talk amongst themselves.

"Lady Hanabi-" Kai began.

"DON'T call me that. I hate titles; just call me Hanabi please Kai." Kai took an involuntary step back at the sight he was witnessing, Hanabi's eyes were narrowed, her brows knitted and eyebrows slanted. The most defined feature however was that the area around her eyes had multiple veins pulsing at her temples. Yugito put her hand on the small girls shoulder to placate the tempered girl.

"It's ok Hanabi, calm down; you wouldn't want to frighten one of your dad's good friends would you?" Yugito asked soothingly, rubbing the girls shoulder. Hanabi let out calm breathe, the veins ebbing away and her face losing its annoyed appearance.

"Sorry Kai that title just brings back memories I wish I could forget." Looks or understanding came across the two demon containers at her apology.

"It's ok Hanabi, I was going to say that we really should get the approval from either your dad or Lady Kazumi but seeing as Yugito and myself are going with your three I don't foresee any problems. If you can be ready in a few minutes we will depart." Kai said as he stood up from the booth they were in and went to pay for their food. They were all unaware however of a pair of eyes in the corner of the establishment that was trained on the group especially the arm that her seal was placed. As soon as Hanabi and Co. left the dining establishment everyone in it turned their gaze to the exit which they just vacated.

"We must inform the Master that they are heading out of town. They will prove to be good subjects." A matron muttered as he got off the stool he was sitting at and headed to the mayors office.

* * *

Naruto grunted as he pulled a part of his trapped essence from its sandy confines, the black sand falling into the high water of the sewer as it was released.

'Ok I've got most of it back all that's left is the part that came in the first Inner Gate. I'll bet that the monk has no idea what it is. Better go get it and beat him, there's no telling what's going to happen.' Naruto gazed around the tunnel; it was caked in black sand from the walls to the roof. From the fourth Gate onwards Naruto had deduced that there was more black sand the closer he drew towards the first Gate and the area that Shukaku, Gaara and the monk were being housed. Naruto's eyes shifted to the back of his head, turning it around.

'There also seems to be black sand following me from the previous Gates that I've been past. Maybe it's following me?' he thought eyeing the enormous mound of black sand that was looming behind him.

"The second Gate is just up ahead…hold on Gaara I'm coming for you, don't worry." Naruto sprinted away down the corridor, the clumps of sand slowly following him making squelching noises with the water. Naruto threw himself close to the wall of the sewer wall as sharpened clumps of sand fell from the roof almost impaling him.

'The closer I get the more frequent these strange things happen. I'm thinking that the closer I get the more in control of the sand the spirit is. He's trying to prevent my advancement.' Naruto quickly jumped away from the section of water he was standing on seconds ago as a sand spike shot out from underneath.

"That just proves it, I've got to be more careful and watch my surroundings more closely. The sand mound that's following me is giving me a bad feeling but if I rush forward I may not be at my peak to fight the spirit when I reach it.' Naruto groaned the sound echoing through the sewer tunnel.

"This is so troublesome." Naruto said continuing his advance towards the first Gate.

* * *

Kai observed the small group of wannabe explorers; Hanabi was jumping around like a ping pong ball, her excitement at an almost impossible level. Kai turned from Naruto's daughter to the older two children of the traveling party. They were a little reserved, probably from worrying about their little brother, that was to be expected but they knew that Gaara was in good hands with Naruto.

Aside from that little negative they were in pretty high spirits about going exploring, Temari trying to get a few words in with Hanabi as she talked about stuff; the words were coming out of her mouth so fast that Kai wasn't able to make sense of anything that the small girl was saying. Kai caught sight of a head of long blonde hair coming towards them, Yugito carrying a few items in her hands that at the current distance he wasn't able to identify.

Kai turned to the three children before him and clapped rather loudly to get their attention.

"You three listen up, We will say this only once and once only; as We do not want your father to get angry with Us about what you asked us to do. This means that we go as a group and we stay as a group, no one goes anywhere by themselves. For everyone's safety we will go so far as long as we can still have the village in view," He paused for a moment as he heard groans of disappointment. "When Naruto finishes up helping Gaara we'll all go have another look around. We don't want to have any adventures till we are able to fend for ourselves." Kai instructed. Yugito spoke when he was finished.

"That said I believe that we should look around for general areas to look into further when Naruto is finished so that we can have a better look later. I bought some food for our little venture. We should however make a promise to be back before the sun sets, we don't want to worry anyone by staying out to late. I asked a few locals for any interesting locations, there were a few interesting finds. To the southern most point of the island where the bridge connects Nagi Island to O'zou Island there's a lot of ice which gives it a very cold feeling. To the east of this island is a small port town that seems to be deserted. To the west towards the Elemental counties is a large forest." She said giving the children their choice.

Her face was happy and she smiled at the children's enthusiasm, on the inside however she was mulling over the possible dangers of going towards the bridge and that ice; cutting a short glance at Kai she saw that he was thinking the same thing as she was.

* * *

Blurs tore through underbrush as they raced across the landscape towards the coast that connected Fire Country to the ocean. Black cloaked individuals with hoods covering their faces obscuring their identities. They were swift silent and precise with their movements, leaping and clearing a pebbled beach as they began their dash over the water and into the depths of the wide ocean.

It was now known amongst the members of the Konoha Elder Council that the Chakra Demon was in possession of a pair of Byakugan eyes from one Hanabi Hyuuga. Sarutobi had heeded the Council that any and all attempts at retrieval were all but useless given the myths surrounding the demons abilities. Hiashi was very insistent on using whatever resources that they had at their disposal in rescuing his youngest daughter, the Third Hokage however put his foot down and was unwavering in his decision; moving against such a powerful and wild character could very well spell disaster for the Hidden Leaf and given the reputation of the Demon in question the Village had not yet recovered from the previous wars with Cloud and Stone to make such an aggressive move.

Hiashi however was not deterred and wanting to make sure that his Clan's bloodlines secrets were not compromised he approached Danzou offering some of the youngest Branch Members of the Hyuuga clan for his Root training program as payment for the covert retrieval mission.

Danzou seemed to consider it but decided against Hiashi's offer, when word of this skirmish got to Sarutobi, and it would eventually, Danzou would be trialed for treason for going against the direct orders of the Hokage. Hiashi though was still not deterred and set up a team of his own, a squad of Hyuuga branch members, the best the branch house had at their disposal at the moment.

The Hyuuga branch house team composing of 5 ninja said nothing as they bolted across the ocean towards the most recent accounts of demon sightings and attacks, Hiashi hypnotized that wherever the most recent demon sighting was, was where the Chakra demon would most likely be, along with the stolen Byakugan. Whispers of a demon attack on a village on Nagi Island made Hiashi order the team there to start their investigation. At their rate of travel their ETA was put at 3 hours and as added insurance Hiashi had told them the price of failure was death by the Caged Bird seal, if they were to return at all.

* * *

"This place has certainly seen better days." Naruto gazed around the massive room easily 5 times as big as the chamber in his mind. It was very dark, probably from the mini desert of black sand that decorated the interior of the room. There were twisters of sand in the farthest parts of the chamber that blew in various directions which generated winds in various directions causing a sandstorm that made seeing anything passed 10 feet in front of you impossible. Stepping passed the threshold and into the chambered area Naruto sensed as he saw the archway of the room close up with sand, the giant sand mound that had been following him clogging the archway completely, sealing Naruto in the giant dune.

'Well this is ominous isn't it?' Naruto thought sarcastically as he started inwards to what was most likely a trap. After the first few steps a hole split in his torso as several spikes from the sand bad shot out at him. In quick succession more spikes lashed out creating a humanoid pin cushion version of Naruto. Naruto stood still, spikes of sand sticking out his eye, cheek and nose with a twitch in the eye that wasn't punctured.

"This is really uncomfortable." With a gentle pulse of power Naruto drained the spikes of the energy used to control the sand, his body returning to its normal state whilst the sand fell to the desert bed like confetti.

'Ok I need to find where Gaara is in this place if I'm going to have a shot at fighting the spirit. Since the spirit has possessed Shukaku and Shukaku is the incarnation of sand that would imply that every grain of sand here is the spirit. Since I can't ask Shukaku to lend a hand that just leaves Gaara, where the hell could he be?' Naruto thought has he began to sense around for other occupants residing in the desert domain. Feeling a second entity Naruto's eyes widened when he realized where it was located, though it made sense for it to be there. The spirit form of Gaara was being held captive at the very bottom of the chamber, some 100 feet downward.

"How the hell am I going to get down there? I could dig my way down but then I'd be crushed as the sand swallows me. And I'm pretty sure that the closer I get to Gaara the more powerful the spirit will be. Talk about being stuck between a rock and hard place." Naruto stood still for a moment weighing the chances for success.

'Well I could get down there at a great cost of chakra so I can have Gaara help me fight him. I don't think I can do much unless Gaara helps me fight it. This is his mind so it would make sense that he'd have control of what happens here. Then I can slap the exorcism seal that was prepared and split Shukaku from the monk. I just hope that I have enough power to pull this off or shit will hit the fan and Hanabi will die.' That thought struck him hard. 'I CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!' strengthened with this thought Naruto gathered a shit load of chakra and released it downward blowing a gigantic crater where he was standing.

"Hold on Gaara I'm on my way!" he shouted as sand rose up at the circumference of the crater and descended inward swallowing Naruto whole with a massive thump.

The experience was completely new to Naruto; it was as if he was suspended in mid air in a black void.

'I didn't think this to be so thick. Oh well, the faster I get down there to Gaara the better off I'll be.' Willing his body to change shape his cloaked form lost its features as it changed into a purplish sphere.

'Next stop, bottom floor.' Naruto then charged a massive bulk towards the top of the sphere, the bottom generating a long point. Letting the gathered energy out skywards Naruto was rocketed downwards deeper into the black abyss, the explosion of power causing the sea of sand to make a massive lunge upwards.

'Hold on Gaara I'm coming!' were Naruto's prime thoughts as he was propelled further and further down.

* * *

A pair of stale grey eyes watched the group of wannabe explorers as they went down the dirt path, the smallest one speaking with the next two smallest at a rather fast pace.

'That's the one with the seal. The other two don't seem to have any bit of power about them so I can forget about them; the larger two will be a problem and that's not even counting that dog with them.' The onlooker thought as he continued his observation.

'If I want to get their leader out in the open to talk then getting his daughter would be the quickest way…on the other hand if I do that he'll be more inclined to kill me for taking her rather than talking, option 1 is out. Option two, I can set up an ambush and rush in to save the day to get into their good graces but somehow I don't think that would work out. My last option is to just keep trailing them so I can meet their leader, that option will take the longest and I'm in need of some serious help quickly.' The balding man thought as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

With Hanabi's exploration team, as she had insisted they call it, Gobi whined toward Kai drawing the teenagers attention.

"What's up Gobi?" Kai asked the 6 feet high canine twitched his tails towards a section of underbrush that they were coming towards and barked a few times. Getting the message Kai nudged Yugito who was beside him.

"Someone has been watching us, has been watching us for quite some time. He might be after one of us so be on guard, we don't know who this is or what they are capable of." Kai whispered in her ear. Nodding her acknowledgement and walked to the front of the smaller children, covering the front of their travel party, Kai took to the back and Gobi trotted to the middle hoisting the three small forms onto his growing form which was now the size of a large horse. Kai shifted his eyes over everyone in front of him.

'Now we play the waiting game, it's your move.' He thought.

* * *

'It would be logical for the possessed Shukaku to be the closest to Gaara's spiritual medium, which means that he's but only a few feet more underneath me. Too bad I can't move, I lost all my momentum on the way down here and this sand is so densely packed I doubt I could blast out of here…but on principal since Shukaku's form is that of sand he'll have some sort of chakra connection with the sand for him to control it, on either the mental plane or the physical one and if I can tap into that then I should be able to…'Naruto thought as he calmed his mind and extended his sensors for any form of chakra he might be able to use to help him. Delving deeper in concentration Naruto was able to feel a tiny current of chakra passing through the black mass surrounding him.

'Ok now that I've got it I have to part it around me so I can get out of here.' Naruto thought while trying to split the sand under him to let him slip through. Naruto felt is working for a moment before he felt tremendous resistance being pressed against him lessening his control and weakening the chakra he was using to manipulate the chakra laced sand. Not being one to quit however Naruto through a massive bulk of chakra against the opposing force blowing a small hole below him. Jumping at the opportunity Naruto dove downwards.

With a great deal of effort he pulled his body free of the sand that was trying to suck him back into the darkness. Quickly Naruto rotated his eyes around the basement of the chamber, seeing a mass of red hair being suspended in mid air by black binds holding his arms and legs outwards, presenting his body in a star shape.

"GAARA!" He screamed loudly as he fought the pull of sand trying to suck him back skywards.

"GAARA WAKE UP DAMM IT!" Naruto yelled, a loud echo bouncing off the dungeon like basement. Immediately afterwards Naruto heard an insane laugh that seemed to come from everywhere, Naruto's mind only had one thing running through his mind after that.

"This is going to be really hard."

* * *

Kazumi watched the comatose redhead with increased interest as she watched his face twitch every few seconds. Since Naruto had dissolved into the other boy several minutes ago this was the first sign of movement from Gaara.

'I hope that everything's going ok in that head of yours Gaara.'

* * *

Naruto eyes twitched, exerting chakra to take possession of all the black sand that lay around him, essentially overloading Shukaku's influence of the dark substance and making it his own. His brow twitching again he locked a part of his mind in maintaining the level of concentration that would keep the sand under his control for the time being, if he was to fight the possessed demon then he couldn't afford to stay in one place; by mentally sealing a part of his mind away for a specific task he could go on about his business without worrying about the duty beforehand. His eyes closed, Naruto's body shifted inside the inky blackness, starting to twist round and round till his body became blurred with movement, repelling the sand around him. If he was going to get in close enough with the seal Hitomi gave him to separate the monk from Shukaku he needed to have woken up Gaara.

The twister inside the square of sand pulsed with power, drawing more and more chakra around it into its eye, creating a bigger force, if he was gong to have even a remote chance of beating this guy he needed to level the playing field, if only slightly. Though it would work for a short time Naruto hypothesized that he could drain and use Shukaku's powers if for but a brief moment so as to get in close to slap the seal on him. Feeling for the chakra he was leeching he cursed when he realized he had only gained the tiniest bit, naught but one grain of sand in an hour glass.

"It's nothing I can use in a fight, so the best I can do is throw his strikes back at him, or drain the chakra of his strikes to turn them into sand again. Now the question is how do I get him to take single form so I can attack him?" Staring downwards towards where he had seen Gaara before the sand swallowed him up again Naruto frowned thoughtfully.

'Since he's holding Gaara's mental avatar captive in that manner I reckon that he'd do anything to keep me from him, which is what this sand dune was for, perhaps trying to free him would set him off enough to try fight me one on one?' with this thought Naruto forced his way down again, with him having drained the sand around him of chakra it gave no resistance to his movements. Splitting the dark roof of the dungeon like the head of a pimple Naruto floated in a gas like state towards the bound Gaara.

As he had anticipated long spikes of sand shot fro the roof trying to impale him, impeding his progress towards his friend; the sand however passed through the gas and fell to the floor, it being drained of the chakra used to make it sharp in the first place. Naruto was puzzled at this development; he hadn't meant to suck the chakra out of that attack. Naruto's eyes widened in realization, the part of his mind that he had set to manipulate the sand he had control of was using his body to absorb any that passed through his gas like state.

With this knowledge Naruto advanced towards the prone Gaara, not paying heed to the spikes that shot out at him. Having reached his friend Naruto gave him a once over, even in the near pick blackness of the dungeon Gaara looked untouched if not just a little bit roughed up.

He proceeded to unbind Gaara's limbs, starting with the legs, dissolving the binds which simply vanished into nothingness. Whilst he was doing this the sand in the chamber started to shift, collecting in on itself in the center of the room in the middle of the air, then the laughter started again, this time it was much more angrier, more insane.

Idly wondering how the world Gaara could stay unconscious through this din Naruto melted the arms free from their restraints. Gaara's body free from its binds Gaara fell like a stone towards the ground only to fall on the cloud form of Naruto.

"Easy there Gaara, I've got you."

"Not for too long you haven't." Naruto formed his head at the edge of the cloud, looking at the first time at the full sized form of the possessed Shukaku. He looked almost exactly the same except for one difference; he had a midnight black color instead of the dull yellow, light brown color, that and he stood at 150 meters high.

"Shukaku's true from, finally we can begin the actual fighting." His statement was met with insane high pitched giggling.

**"Blood, precious blood, give me blood, I need blood, I want blood, give me blood!"** after this rant he began to cackle again while bringing his tail down to swat at Naruto. Naruto enveloped Gaara within the gas, even though he would pass straight through the tail anything that wasn't inside him or part of him would be blown away with the sand and he did not need Gaara swiped away after just getting him back, in a matter of speaking.

* * *

Kai was to the back of everyone else, cataloging what he was seeing so he could give an appropriate assessment to Naruto when they got back to the village.

'The island from what I can see is mostly barren and empty, except for the small village it would be a chore to expand on that foundation, and this small town seems completely abandoned, I wonder why that is?' pulsing his chakra in a wave over the town he frowned when he felt another power intercept the wave, cancelling the recon skill that Kai had taken up using. He whistled to the rest of his traveling gang.

"There is something here that may be dangerous, keep a sharp eye; we don't know what we're dealing with yet." Inwardly Kai swore.

'This could be very bad, we have no knowledge of the layout or the history here, we are at a disadvantage here and whoever it is watching us I don't think they'll just let us go. This is problematic.'

"Hanabi, Kankuro, Temari all of you in front of me, Gobi and Yugito guard the left and right flank…expect unfriendly company very soon." He ordered to which everyone complied.

* * *

"Well shit, I knew that it was a bad idea but I just couldn't help myself could I?" currently Naruto was confined along with Gaara in a sphere of sand in the belly of the beast. Now the giant raccoon dog was impacting them both, trying to crush Naruto into nothingness, the only thing that was keeping them alive currently was the small shell that Naruto's tails had created to protect him but the power within them was starting to wane, pretty soon Naruto's chakra would reduce to 0 and he would literally fade away. Feeling his chakra levels drop to just above critical levels Naruto prepared self serving eulogy.

"He was not always liked among others, especially among those people of his home village but his spirit was strong and his will stubborn. He grew to be a feared power across many countries laying waste to countless ninja that opposed him. He will be missed by all, his friends Kai, Yugito, Gaara, Kazumi sensei, Rei but most of all Hanabi, his darling daughter which he loves dearly and will miss the most."

"I'd like to offer my thanks to those that have helped me throughout my short life, The Third Hokage for keeping me alive in the village, Kazumi sensei for teaching me about the Sealing arts, Yugito for her catty nature that drove me insane but loved all the same, Kai for his book smarts and looking out for my mismatched family in my stead, Gaara for his unnecessary ramblings, my daughter for giving me another rock solid reason to help people. Most of all however I'll miss Hitomi sensei who is my dearest friend in this existence." He was taken for a loop when someone spoke to him in response to his speech.

"And you say I ramble too much." Gaara's graveling voice almost broke Naruto's concentration in reinforcing the cloak of chakra covering both of them.

"Sorry Gaara can't talk right now." Naruto said, his voice strained with effort. Gaara's eyes scanned the area seeing a dimming red light in front of an insidious black.

"Shukaku! Naruto, Shukaku's in trouble!"

"Yeah I know, he got possessed and tried to kill everyone, I came in here to free you from his confines and defeat him, looks like I failed in that respect." Naruto said somberly.

"What?"

"I'm extending my tails outward to give us adequate protection from the crushing force of this black sand, I'm running out of chakra though, when my body eventually runs out of chakra I'll cease to exist." Naruto explained.

"WHAT? There has to be something that I can do, I don't want you to die, you saved me from my hell, you saved me, Yugito and Kai from our respective hells, you have a dream. YOU CAN'T DIE!" Gaara yelled. Naruto chuckled.

"Gaara, this is your mind, in here you can make anything possible, anything you want into reality. I need chakra to survive and I can't drain any from him anymore the strain on my mind is too great."

"If you need chakra to live then I'll get some from him."

"Gaara that's-" Naruto was cut off as he felt a power serge, then a torrent of chakra slamming into his body. Naruto felt his body reenergize itself with the foreign energy giving strength to the tails holding back the crushing force of the sand all around them.

Whilst this was happening Naruto heard several metallic thuds from all around him. Looking at Gaara he noticed that Gaara was in a crouched position, channeling a lot of will and effort into something, then it hit him; Gaara was using the room's walls as a weapon against Shukaku's massive form and it seemed that whatever he was attacking him with was sapping energy from him from which Gaara was diverting towards himself.

An epiphany struck him at the conclusion of those thoughts, Shukaku in this form was nigh invulnerable to attack given the size and amount of chakra he had to fight with; Gaara was essentially leeching the monk's hold on Shukaku via the power he had, the less power he had to command the easier it would be to land a decisive hit and extract the monk's crazed soul from the demon.

Naruto could feel it working as he could feel the pressure around his cocoon of chakra tails lesson and divert to holding onto as much power as possible which was dwindling steadily. Taking this chance Naruto expanded his tails slightly increasing the diameter of the cocoon hoping to grow it large enough that he could break out to the surface of the body of sand and pop out like a pimple head on the skin.

After a long stint of time Naruto was able to break the layer of sand that held them captive and rushed to get free turning his body into energy and flying towards the breach he had made taking Gaara along for the ride as he was inside Naruto's chakra stream. Naruto descended towards the floor of the dark chamber at a casual pace taking great care to make sure that Gaara wouldn't hit the ground hard as such an act would disrupt the red heads concentration cancelling what he was trying to accomplish.

Reaching bottom floor Naruto set his friend down gently on the floor and retook human form, casting his eyes on their once prison. Large metallic chains had been spit from the walls and sunk themselves into Shukaku's sand body which he noted after feeling for and sending out a chakra sonar pulse, was the reason for the crazed raccoon dog's dramatic loss in power.

The blonde tuned out the crazed rants about needing blood and chants of 'Kill kill kill' and noted with satisfaction that the once large form of the possessed Shukaku was shrinking in size, the sand making up his massive form disappearing, it not having the chakra necessary to keep it corporeal. Naruto's head fazed, his face appearing in the back of his head to look at Gaara whose eyes were now open and starring at his handiwork. Not a sound was made between the two friends as the shrinking Shukaku's screams became less and less booming, eventually ending up high pitched as though he had inhaled a tank of helium.

The form Shukaku was reduced to was a horse size version of the real thing except he was now on all four arms and legs and his tail was swinging back lazily that and his yellow star irises were staring at them murderously. It was mumbling under its breath as it starred at both boys then his pupils shrank suddenly as he charged at them.

"I've got a way to stop him but I need a few minutes to prep it, do you think you can keep him occupied while I get it ready?" Naruto shouted over the shrieking of the charging demon. They dived to opposite sides of the chamber avoiding the charge.

"How much time do you need?" Gaara called as Shukaku's arms whipped out to the sides to strike at them.

"One minute at the most, cover me while I get it ready, I only have one of these so I can't afford to mess it up." Naruto said interlocking his fingers and clenching the hands together, his thumbs resting under his chin to focus and delve into his seal chamber. Hitomi had transferred a seal design to the chamber when she hugged him before leaving Gaara's mindscape, all Naruto had to do was to transfer the markings to his skin so that he could collect it to his palms to strike the target, in this case Shukaku; it just took a bit of time for the markings to appear and for him to collect it to strike.

Seconds after he engaged his focus to his seal chamber his body shimmered slightly as red markings faded into existence around his body. The markings grew bright red with power drawing Shukaku's attention from Gaara who he had gone after in an attempt to reestablish dominance within the realm he resided. The marks flashed again becoming slightly darker as they started traveling down his arms into his palms, the eerie red glow of the markings enhancing as more and more of the runes were collected all the while the black form of Shukaku was charging at him.

"More time, need more time Gaara I'm not ready yet!" Naruto shouted over the shrieking of the deranged demon approaching. Metallic clanks and falling stone was heard from all around them as chains snaked their way all around the black sand demon, yanking him into a standstill right in front of Naruto. Naruto's eyes snapped open seconds after, bringing his palms to rest centimeters of the demons crown.

"When I get out of here I'll see that I bathe in you're blood insect." The demon spat. Naruto didn't say anything though as the marks on his palms glowed white and he slammed them to the demon's head resulting in an ear spitting scream from the recipient.

"Sealing Art: Soul Separation!" Naruto yelled as the bright light receded. The sight that greeted them was a strange one; the black colored sand seemed to melt away like running blood out of a fresh gaping wound exposing brilliant yellow brown sand/skin of the Shukaku that both boys knew. The black substance bubbled in a puddle in front of Shukaku and Naruto like boiled water before simmering, smoke streaming from it. Gaara came over to the two to see the black puddle.

"Is it over?" the red head asked, slightly winded.

"Almost." Naruto said gathering a bit of chakra into his palm creating a blazing blue flame to which he touched to the puddle, which ignited and then vanished.

"Now it's over." Shukaku declared. He turned to Naruto and tilted his head.

"I owe you my life, my Lord." He said. Naruto shook his head.

"The one you should be thanking is Gaara; I wouldn't have been able to separate you from the monk without his help. Now if I'm right I've got to go before my presence here causes more harm then good, I'll see you in the real world, I reckon you two have some things to work out."

"Like what?" both Gaara and Shukaku asked simultaneously asked looking at each other then back at Naruto.

"Well Kazumi sensei removed the seal binding Shukaku to you Gaara. I told Kazumi to plant a proper seal on Gaara so that you both can live with each other without the discomfort, I know he won't say it Gaara but I think that Shukaku kind of enjoys living inside you, or will, now since the monk is done away with; you'll be just like the rest of us. I got to go, see you two later. Oh and Shukaku…don't fight the sealing ok?" And in a blink of an eye he vanished leaving the chamber with two speechless occupants.

* * *

Kazumi almost had a heart attack when she saw a stream of chakra fly out of Gaara's body accompanied by the red hue immediately after. The chakra gathered and expanded into human form, Naruto was back.

"Everything's all right Sensei, you can seal him now. But can you tell me what the time is first?" he asked.

"Almost 4PM, none of the others have come back here though, something might have happened to them…go look for them, I'm sure they haven't gone too far so it should be rather easy for you to find them." Kazumi offered. Naruto nodded in agreement and headed out as Kazumi pulled out a blank scroll and a brush with an ink well and prepared to reseal Shukaku.

* * *

Madara Uchiha was seething at his predicament since his encounter with that pest that called himself the chakra demon. He was nigh impossible for him to be touched but due to his chakra points being more or less poisoned and made useless he was in agony every time he moved his arm. He had fled Mist and journeyed to Rain where the Akatsuki had a base of operations, currently only Pein, Zetsu Konan and himself were present.

"Pein." Madara growled out. The Orange haired man turned to face the ancient Uchiha.

"Yes sir?"

"Send out someone to find and eliminate this so called Chakra demon, that pest hurt me."

"I already have Itachi following him to gather information; so far it seems that he has gone from country to country rounding up as many of the tailed beasts as possible. He's collecting the demons and the containers along with them for a purpose we have yet to determine."

"All of our targets in one place…recall Sasori; he's had a run in with this chakra demon before. I want to know all he knows by the end of the day."

"Yes sir."

"Oh and Pein?"

"Yes sir?"

"Find me a medic ninja and fast or I'm likely to kill someone." He growled.

"Sir!"

'I will get my revenge, Chakra demon you can count on seeing me again.' He told himself.

* * *

Naruto stood motionless on the edge of the town, stretching out with his power to locate his daughter. He wasn't necessarily worried about her as she had Kai, Yugito and Gobi with her but all the same it put him on edge to see that she was out and about without him.

'I'm just trying to look out for her, not protective in the least, no not me.' He told himself earning a snort of amusement from Hitomi which he promptly ignored. After about a minute he caught a break.

"There you are…and it looks like there is some interesting things happening around this island, what's say we go say hi?' he asked his tenant and he dissolved his body and seamlessly vanished.

* * *

The Hyuuga team touched down on the shores of Nagi Island and headed towards the closest, strongest chakra signal they could find and started to zero in on it, they would not leave empty handed.

* * *

Kai analyzed the data he had on the situation. Currently his little band of explorers were in unknown territory with a possible hostiles inbound turning his mission from exploration to protection. He sent out a few chakra pulses to gather more Intel, pushing more power in it then the previous times. He was rewarded with several more pieces of information; there was one with gennin chakra reserves and about three dozen more sources at civilian levels. He tenses again as he counted more sources seemed to be coming from the coast towards the town and lastly…Naruto was finished with Gaara and Shukaku and now was coming towards them…oh boy were they ever going to get it when he got here. In the meantime however he had several children to look after.

"Your fathers on his way little Hanabi, it seems that he is finished helping out Gaara and Shukaku. He will be here momentarily." He was interrupted by the three children's shouts of joy.

"Quiet! We are still in danger!" Kai scolded them, making them shut up rather abruptly. Yugito motioned towards their rear where a group of people were gathering making an attempt to surround them and block of any escape route.

"Gobi, Yugito at the ready if we have to fight let there be no life lost on either side." Kai said quietly as they took stations around the children.

"Who dares trespass on the land of the great master of serpents?" a voice from afar asked.

'Master of serpents…that would mean someone who summons and fights with them which would mean the Snake Sannin from Konoha. This town must be a base of operations of some kind for him but what? Whatever the case it's a good thing there isn't any tell tale sign of that snake wielder.

"We're sorry for trespassing; we had no idea that this town was claimed land. If you'll excuse us we'll be leaving." Kai called out. He was halted when he tilted his head sideways to avoid a high speed projectile, it was probably a kunai but Kai couldn't tell as it moved too fast.

"Your lives became forfeit the moment you walked into our land; you are now slaves to the master." Was the reply Kai received.

"We cannot guarantee you'll live if you don't let us leave. We suggest you let us go before my leader arrives, when that happens you will all be assured to die, don't be stupid." Kai spoke seriously, wanting this situation result in bloodshed.

"We cannot…our master has ordered us to capture all that trespass on this land." Kai sighed at this answer.

"Very well then, We am sorry." Kai stopped his foot into the ground sending chakra throughout the town's soil. Multiple screams of horror were heard all around the town as tendrils of earth shot out from the ground to snag and drag all the hostiles surrounding them 6 feet under, burying them alive. The person that Kai had been 'negotiating' with though had not been pulled under and had most likely felt the chakra surge just before the tendril grabbed at them.

"No, nononono! I'm going to die when he finds out and never fix me like he said he would" they started screaming. This string of words caught Kai attention as he signaled for Gobi and Yugito to stand guard and watch out for any other potential hostiles that he might have missed. As Kai ran off in the direction of the cries he thought briefly what they had meant by the 'Fix' comment. The moment he caught sight of the one he was looking for he understood perfectly what SHE meant. She was wearing clothes that completely covered her body, though her head was exposed and there seemed to be several rolls of bandages covering but not quite all of it, blue scale like features.

"That Monster." Kai whispered but the girl seemed to hear it and cringed. Kai moved forward to the cringing girl as she whimpered and cried.

The sigh that Naruto happened upon was a weird one, the town had residual chakra within the soil making Naruto believe that were was a fight of sort that took place and by hoe fresh the residue felt to him it was very recent, maybe a few minutes. That wasn't what was occupying his thoughts however as he was watching Kai trying to give comfort to a young girl whom had been experimented on; her appearance was a dead giveaway.

"What are you doing Kai?" he asked curiously snapping the teen out of his trance and making the girl cry out in surprise at being startled.

"We were simply mapping out the areas around the town them we were halted by unknown hostiles in this small town. Most of the deceased were but peasants but this girl here seems to hold some special significance. With this I have concluded that this is a research town for Orochimaru's many twisted experiments and this girl is a failed result of one of them." Kai reported to his superior. Naruto 'hm'ed.

"Go back to the others and head back to the town; I'd like to have a few words with this mystery girl." Naruto saw her cringe at this. Getting an idea Naruto collapsed his face mask and hood, showing his bright eyes and spiky blonde hair to the bandage covered girl. Naruto gave a short glance at Kai giving him the silent message that he could go. Without a sound Kai vanished leaving the girl with Naruto.

"Don't be frightened, neither me nor any of my friends will hurt you. Why don't you tell me your name? My name is Naruto." Naruto said to the girl trying to find out more about her. The girl froze up for a moment in deliberation before finally speaking.

"Isaribi, my mother called me Isaribi before HE came and took me away and turned me into this." She said disdainfully. Naruto slowly approached her, sitting down next to her curled up form on a few crates.

"Were you born here Isaribi?" she nodded yes.

"HE came and turned my home into a lab driving everyone out so that he could work without problems. HE said that if I was a good girl and did as he said, bringing him new prisoners and test subjects then he'd undo what he did to me, HE's never been back since." She said, literally spitting ever time she spoke about Orochimaru.

"Isaribi…I think you know by now that he was never gong to fulfill that, that's why he's never come back, he has no use for you anymore, just like the others before you." At the mention of others Isaribi's eyes widened.

"O-others? What others?" she stuttered. Naruto shook his head.

"You weren't the first child to be used in experiments, where Orochimaru came from he did countless experiments on people like you, both civilian and ninja alike. Out of the possible hundreds he used in his experiments I can only account for two that survived any of them, one was his own student. When he saw that she was of no use he left her to rot just like you. Now that's she's grown up her life long dream is to end his life for putting through her all that torture." Naruto told her, reciting some of the events that he found out in his time within Konoha's walls. Isaribi's eyes changed from widened horror to absolute loathing to finally settle on confusion.

"Why did he say that then? Why did he say that he'd help me?"

"Some people just can't see beyond themselves, he told you this to give you false hope so that you would continue to do his bidding willingly in his absence. It is one of the cruelest things for a man to taunt people with their hearts desire only to have them find out that whomever promised them such a thing could never come through with it; people like Orochimaru take a sick sense of satisfaction in crushing others in one form or another. It had happened to me at one stage a long time ago, so you see what your going through may be unique but there are others that are feeling just as you do right now." Naruto said getting up off the ground, his bottom sprouting legs which Isaribi had noted were missing just a few seconds ago. Naruto began to move to the exit of the ally.

"It was…nice to meet you Isaribi, good evening to you." He said reaching the end of the ally and about to turn the corner when Isaribi called out to him stopping him. He turned to the rather short girl and watched as she fiddled with her bandages.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Back to my family." He said noting that she looked sad, probably because he was leaving and besides Kai and himself very few others would have talked to her like he had. Looking into her eyes Naruto saw the longing of wanting to belong to something important, not that he has stripped away the illusion of Orochimaru coming back to help her she looked lost.

"I've been alone for so long…I don't want to be alone anymore…could I come with you, there is nothing left for me here…I don't wish to be alone anymore." She pleaded. Naruto walked back to her perch on the crates. Naruto extended his hand out to her.

"Take my hand and I'll show you a life you never thought to see, feel things you never thought to feel, do things you never thought possible; you come with me I can give you a life, that I promise you and my promises are the law, I do not break them." With that said Isaribi took hold of Naruto's hand and slid off the crate. As they turned out of the ally and back towards Naruto's group Naruto stopped suddenly making Isaribi look at him strangely.

"There is one thing that I forgot to mention. How do you feel about demons?" Naruto asked the small brown haired girl.

"I've never met a demon, people say that they're supposed to be scary and powerful and because of that are treated as evil. The only one I think of as a demon is Orochimaru." She said with conviction. Naruto smiled briefly, the black mask and hood metalizing over his head blocking out her view of his face.

"My friends and I are closely linked to the nine tailed demon beasts of legend; four of us including myself contain some of these powerful beings as a curse or blessing. Does this change your opinion of me small one?"

"Demons are looked at as evil; if you have within you a demon then I'll gladly be called a demon again. And don't call me small!" She said, dead serious. Naruto gave off a hearty laugh hearing that before continuing to walk. As they walked and Isaribi caught first sight of Naruto's family she began to fidget with her bandages.

"Don't worry Isaribi, with a family like mine your quite normal. If you're still uncomfortable however I can see what I can do to help you feel more at ease with them." Naruto said trying to alleviate the girls growing anxiety.

"Could you make me normal?" she asked. Sadly Naruto shook his head.

"_I_ can't…though someone else might be able; all we have to do is look for them and in this world there has to be _someone_. In the meantime if you want you can wear this." He said placing his hand onto her head. A dim light emanated from his palm as clothing materialized around Isaribi's body, covering up the pants and long sleeve top that she was wearing to cover up the scales. It was a dark blue over cloak with a hood that was now donned on her head concealing her face from view.

"If you wish your face not to be seen till we can find someone to help you, wear that. Now come, I have some people for you to meet." He said ushering her forwards. The two made it back to the others that were waiting for them and coughed lightly getting all of there attentions from the chatting Hanabi and Gaara's siblings were making. The instant Hanabi saw her father she launched herself at him, tackling his midsection though Naruto remained standing.

"Hi there…did you have fun while daddy was away?" he asked her curiously. Hanabi nodded her head rapidly.

"We came here looking for things because there was nothing in the town and I was bored when we got surrounded and Kai did this thing where he pulled everyone into the ground then ran off then came back and who's that?" Hanabi said all in one breath taking a large gulp of air afterwards. Naruto gave a look towards Kai which he nodded to, an in depth report of this trips events would be done when they returned to the town. Naruto turned to his daughter and picked her up into his arms.

"Hanabi can I get you to do something for me, you see this girl here in the large blue coat?" he said turning his head to Isaribi, Hanabi nodded. "I want you to make her feel happy around us, will you show Isaribi a happy time back in the village?" Hanabi nodded enthusiastically before jumping out of her dad's arms and stood in front of Isaribi.

"Your name is Isaribi? My name's Hanabi Namikaze, come on meet my other friends, Makeup boy, Temari, Rei we have a new friend!" Hanabi called to the three other children. Hanabi dragged Isaribi by her cloak's sleeve over to the other children for introductions. Naruto gave a quiet command to Kai and Yugito for them to clear the children out, he could sense they had incoming company, closing in fast.

"Alright kids lets go back to town, I think we've had enough excitement for one day." Kai called to the talking children after a few moments. Hanabi looked to her father who just waved at her.

"I'll only be a few minutes; there is something I have to take care of here first. Go on without me I'll see you again in a moment." After saying this Kai had the children and Isaribi ride on Gobi's back all the way back to town it was coming close to sun down and not one of the children wanted to be out in the middle of nowhere when the sun came down.

* * *

Once Naruto was sure that they had traveled a significant distance Naruto's face mask and hood grew back on his head in a haze of smoke.

"You are most likely here for Hanabi, I advise you to rethink your actions or I'll be forced to take your life…she is my daughter, I love her as my own and you will not take her from me back to that place. She knows nothing of you or your family so leave." Naruto growled out into the streets. The whizzing sound of projectile weapons alerted Naruto to an incoming attack but let it pass as they were deflected by his tails springing from his body.

"Weapons will not work on me; I say again stop or I'll be forced to kill you." Naruto said his words deathly calm. Naruto was surrounded by a pentagon of smoke indicating a Body flicker. Before the smoke from the technique could settle the ninja went straight to attack him with vicious jabs to what would be Naruto's vital points.

"By decree of the Hyuuga Clan leader Hiashi we are tasked with bringing Hanabi Hyuuga, his second daughter back to Konoha." One said in a monotone. When the smoke vanished the Hyuuga strike team could only stand in astonishment as Naruto stood there, blinking at them.

"She is no longer his daughter, she is mine. He cannot take her away from me." Naruto said as he began to suck all of the chakra he could out of the Hyuuga ninja's bodies. Feeling the rush of chakra down their harm to their hands the Hyuuga ripped their hands away from Naruto, experiencing a burst of pain in the process.

"I think I'll send your eyes back to Hiashi as a message not to try this again." Naruto said as five of his tails shot out from his body lodging themselves into the stomachs of the five Hyuuga. They started to scream as an influx of demonic energy started to surge through them, liquefying their organs and melting away there skin. With an audible squelch Naruto retracted the tails, the bodies of the five Hyuuga dropping into the dirt with a dead thud. Red tendrils shot off of his body and smacked into the now five dead ninja. With a small pop the tendrils retreated back to their master, disposing ten eyes into his upturned palm. With his free hand he placed it several feet from the ground and concentrated.

"Creation Art: Wings of Flight." A blend of red and blue chakra exited Naruto's palm taking the form of a falcon with purple feathers. Naruto held out his hand holding the eyes out to the bird.

"Take these eyes to the home of Hiashi Hyuuga of Konoha; be sure to see his reaction." Naruto commanded the bird/chakra construct as it swallowed the eyes one at a time before flying away.

"Now to get back to my family, I hope that by now Gaara's awake, his brother and sister are most likely still very worried." Naruto said before vanishing into smoke.

'For now though I need a rest.'

* * *

That night saw Naruto standing outside with Gobi, Kazumi, Kai, Yugito and a newly awoken Gaara.

"That's my plan." Naruto said finishing up telling him what he wanted to do to set up his village.

"Let me get this straight, you want to create an extra dimension that overlaps this village?" Gaara asked astounded.

"In simplistic terms yes, I want to create a space that is both within and is also free of all civilian contact, like a pocket dimension. I want to establish a gateway that will enable passage to this extra dimension through the use of a seal." Naruto explained. Kazumi 'hmm'ed in thought.

"This idea is an ingenious one Naruto, am I to assume the seals that you have placed upon your daughter are to act as the key to this doorway?" Kazumi asked.

"Those seals have a multitude of purposes, one of which is to act as the key for the doorway for insurance reasons, the other functions are to do with transforming a persons' chakra pathways so that chakra can be used and released freely for use not unlike mine. The beginning stage, phase one builds up chakra till it can hold no more, when this happens the stored chakra will then spread the bearers pathways widening their chakra points till the bearer contains only one active chakra coil and one chakra point that stretches to cover the entire body enabling freedom of chakra flow with near minimal effort of the bearer.

After this phase another seal will be placed at the base of the brain stem enabling the bearer complete and total control of releasing and sealing the storage seal, also enabling them a measure of telekinetic or mental command of their chakra when the seal is broken and the flow of chakra is unrestricted. The last function of the seal is two pronged, first it prevents the release of any chakra without the bearers consent and two it grows in capacity depending on the amount of chakra the bearer builds up over time." Naruto elaborated.

"There is one thing that troubles me about this, for this extra dimension factor to take place it must have an independent power source and I know of no power source that can provide such monstrous quantities of power." The elder spoke though Naruto seemed unhindered.

"A self sustaining power source of massive proportions? What about that scroll in that sealing scroll in your robe? By my calculations that will produce at least 300 percent more power then necessary." Everyone watched as Kazumi got out the scroll in question and displayed it out for everyone to see.

"As you can see the question of a power source had been answered, the next step is a lot harder. We need to create a lining for this extra dimension to take effect in, I was thinking around this entire island with the gate at the entrance of said village. For this though I need something I currently don't have." They all eyed Naruto curiously.

"I need the combined powers of a few more tailed beasts to blast enough power to generate the extra dimension over such a large area. For this reason and a few others we will again be splitting up. I will go in search of the others while you four complete the required steps around the whole island, if all goes as I predict we should be ready to unleash Project phantom by the time I come back, with a few new students preferably as I will need several dozen ninja of varying ranks to sustain the village within the extra dimension, that and a few spies couldn't hurt. I will leave in a few days and return in 1 year to complete the array. All instructions for setting the boundaries will be in a scroll I will prepare tonight. Are there any questions?" Naruto asked.

"Will Hanabi will be going with you?" Yugito asked curiously.

"Do you really expect her to leave my side? After all she's very clingy and refuses to leave my side for anything bar a toilet break... but she will stay here with you guys, I have a plan so don't worry. I know I just got back but this has to be done if things are to go according to schedule." Yugito gave Naruto a nonplussed look towards Hanabi's behavior but didn't say anything as she was sure she didn't want to know.

"What of my brother and sister, what will they be doing?" Gaara asked suddenly. Naruto gave off a thoughtful humming sound for a brief moment before saying anything.

"I'll give them the same seal like Hanabi, I'm sure they won't mind; besides the longer the seal is present on the bearer and the primary function is undergoing its process it will ultimately be easier for them as they will have more chakra available to throw around then most others as they have had the seal applied before the other acolytes." Naruto explained his plan for a moment more before Kazumi cut in.

"Though I agree that this is a necessary step it is also a bad one." She spoke evenly.

"How so?" Naruto asked curiously interested in hearing her reason.

"You wish to create an alternate dimension and overlap it with this town, while it will be good for you, you will need to consider the peoples whose lives you are endangering in the process as they will become a target for your enemies the Akatski amongst others in the future. You need to build up relations with the town and explain to them in detail what you're doing to have their cooperation. For that reason you cannot leave but you cannot stay; do you not see the dilemma?" she asked. Naruto nodded his head as did the others.

"I see your reasoning and I agree with your assessment however this will require me to be in two places at once and my solution to that isn't fully developed though it is in its trial stages. I and Hitomi sensei have worked on it in my sleep for the past few nights at the bridge between my soul and the seal." Naruto told them making everyone present look on in curious wonder at this possible solution.

"What might this solution be exactly?" Kazumi asked curious as the rest.

"It is essentially a multiform technique that divides my body in half enabling for me to be in two separate places at once, though there is one problem Hitomi sensei and I are having…"

"This separation of your self splits her up as well…that is a predicament isn't it? I think I speak for everyone when I say we have quite a lot to think about. We should retire for tonight and reconvene in the morning." Gaara and Yugito looked at her questioningly.

"She means regroup tomorrow morning to talk more about this when you have had more time to think about what I told you. I myself need to talk to Hitomi sensei about this development as she will be affected whatever the outcome is. Lastly to answer your earlier question Yugito this is how Hanabi will stay here, I'll be two people at the same time, I just need to pull the technique off." Naruto elaborated for his friends. Finally understanding what Kazumi and he had said they nodded and they departed to get some sleep. Naruto blew into smoke appearing on the roof of the building his friends and family were staying in. once there Naruto closed his eyes and focused, taking him into his mind and to the bridge that joined Hitomi and him together.

* * *

Naruto faded into view in the domain that Hitomi had claimed as her own personal haven and waited for to show, she would know of his avatars presence in her domain almost immediately.

"Sensei…there has been a development." He started to be halted by his demonic sensei that shot out of somewhere and wrapped him in a tight hug, his face pressed against her chest. She had done this several times before in the past when he had first come to learn from her so he didn't feel too awkward though strangely Naruto felt that this was slightly different somehow he just couldn't place it. Before he was able to contemplate these thoughts however he was removed from her chest and thrust back to meet the serious gaze of his first sensei.

**"What is it?"** she snapped suddenly making Naruto raise an eyebrow at her behavior as he had not done anything to stir her ire for this kind of reaction. Filing these thoughts away for later musings he became serious immediately.

"It has come to the time where the need for me to be in two places has arisen; the multi form technique must be completed." He barely finished before Hitomi growled out in annoyance.

**"Its always something you want, what about what I want or what I need, I have needs too you know but you probably don't care!"** she yelled, her perfectly styled hair coming out of its tight binds framing her face giving her a rather feral look. Naruto involuntarily took a step back from her, she had been this mad only during training back when they found Yugito all that time ago. Hitomi seeing him back up suddenly started to tear up surprising Naruto again.

**"Why are you backing away? What is it? Aren't I a good enough teacher, haven't I taught you well enough, proven to you that I want you to be happy? Why are you leaving me…leaving US! I can't do this by myself."** She snarled before breaking down into sobs at the end of her rant. Hesitantly Naruto took a few steps forward to show that he appreciated what she had done for him. The moment he touched her however she lashed out at him again, Naruto's arm didn't even hit the floor before it vanished in blue smoke and reforming back in its rightful place.

**"Don't touch me!"** she screeched grabbing him by the neck and flinging him over her back. Naruto dissolved and reformed in the standing position as he was before.

**"Why are you here?"** she retorted. Thinking that the outburst of strange behaviors was over Naruto straightened slightly before saying anything.

"As I said before…the multiform technique needs to be completed as I need to be here and locate the other tailed beasts at the same time."

**"Is that all I am to you ever need me for? 'Sensei I need help with this, Hitomi can I please have some help with this seal array'; you're never here just to see me, you don't care about me or what's happening to me!"** she seethed narrowing her eyes dangerously. Knowing what she had said the last time he took a step back he remained motionless. Going back to the last comments of her last rant he hesitantly spoke up.

"Hitomi, what's wrong? What's happening to you?" he asked concerned for both her and himself at the fire he was playing with. Hitomi sniffed a few times before facing him but not looking him in the eyes.

**"I don't know how this is possible, it's not possible for this to happen but it did and I have no idea what to do or how to deal with it."** She rambled.

"What's the problem?" Naruto asked again, a bit more force behind his words this time.

**"I'm not human, I only take the shape of this human I don't have anything else in common with humans. I don't have human organs or any internal parts but this still happened."**

"Please don't avoid the question, please tell me what's wrong." He was pleading how. Hitomi however narrowed her eyes on him again.

**"Don't take that tone with me. But fine if you really want to know what's wrong I'll be more than happy to tell you. I'M. PREGNANT." **She all but screamed in his face.

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled…right into her face.

**"I'm the one pregnant here, you don't have any grounds to be freaking out, and I'm the one with another life growing inside me which shouldn't even exist!"**

"Excuse me if I'm wrong about this but you live inside me, I have a pregnant chick in my gut and your telling me I'm not allowed to freak out a bit?" Naruto asked with a steel voice. Hitomi didn't say anything to that and kept quiet. There was a few seconds of silence before Naruto broke it.

"You're sure you're pregnant?" Hitomi leveled him with a murderous glare.

"And you're saying that this is impossible? Impossible how, don't demons mate and have kits of their own?" Naruto inquired.

**"I'm a tailed beast demon; I and the other eight tailed beasts are completely different to other demons as we don't have an actual physical form as I am a sentient chakra with a mind of my own. Other demons unlike the nine tailed beasts aren't like us and have a physical form and are able to procreate. The nine of us tailed beasts are eternal, forever to roam existence till the end of time. That's why this is impossible or supposed to be impossible because I have no reproductive organs and no way to reproduce."** Hitomi said letting out a massive sigh, it was large enough that it generated small gust blowing right through Naruto.

"Is this the reason for the mood swings you've been having lately?" Naruto asked getting a nod from the vixen in front of him.

**"I may not have human organs but the general basis for child bearing should stay the same, which means the mood swings, cravings, a swelling stomach... the whole package."** She said, relief showing on her face having lifted the weight she had been carrying with keeping something like that to herself.

"I'll be here for you Hitomi, you aren't just my sensei…you are my closest friend and confident. I don't know what I can do but whatever happens I promise that I'll stay with you through this pregnancy." He said wrapping his arms around her, his tails extending and doing the same mixing into hers that were now drifting all over the place.

**"Thank you Naruto, I've been getting very scared and keeping this to myself and the mood swings is driving me crazy. Now what is this I hear about needing this multiform technique?"** she asked getting down to the reason Naruto had originally came to her for.

"I need to be in this village to explain to the occupants what I want to do and I need to trot around the countries to find the rest of the tailed beasts." Hitomi nodded.

**"This is doable but you will have to work tirelessly in here to finish mastering the technique when it is finished."** She paused before continuing. **"Also due to recent developments you have to take extra care not to split any of my power as were in completely new territory what with my pregnancy."**

"I understand." Her demeanor changed instantly after saying this.

**"Well get to it, its not going to do it by itself!"** she ordered sending Naruto into a frenzy of movement to finish his training.

* * *

The next morning Hanabi rose from the first actual bed she'd slept in for at least a week. She had opted to sleep in the same room as Kankuro Temari and Isaribi. With fairly little resistance Hanabi was able to get Gaara's brother and sister to interact with the heavily covered girl to find out that her treatment wasn't that far off from what Gaara's was like back in the Hidden sand village. She quickly dressed herself and headed to where her dad was with Kazumi, Yugito, Kai and Gaara who was nodding off very slowly.

"Is it done Naruto, is the technique complete?" Kazumi asked, her aged voice conveying a fair deal of curiosity. Naruto nodded his head.

"All it needs now it to be performed. When this happens I'll need about an hour for my mind to get used to it as Hitomi said that the experience would be similar to looking left and right at the same time. I'll also need to be in a secluded area so as not to scare the townspeople with the power burst that will accompany the separation." Naruto turned to Hanabi.

"Get cleaned up, get something to eat, brush your teeth and say your goodnights, when I get back I want you cleaned up and ready for bed… and just to make sure that you do this I'm having Yugito watch you as you do them." Hanabi after hearing this began to give a kicked puppy look but Naruto was unwavering.

"Don't even bother giving me that big eye look, you know you have to brush your teeth or they'll fall out now get going." Naruto told Hanabi before leaving out the front door followed by Kai and Kazumi. Hanabi huffed at the door her dad vacated just seconds ago and blew a raspberry.

"I heard that young lady; don't make me come back in there." Naruto's voice called out making Hanabi stiffen in fright before running off to do what her dad had told her to do.

Naruto stood with Kazumi and Kai a few minutes from the town. He stood to face the two older members of his troop.

"When I split myself a lot of raw power will probably gush out far too fast for me to manage so I need your help to construct a containment field so I don't die when I do the technique. This will probably take half an hour to complete as I cannot afford to have any of Hitomi's sensei's presence split along with mine otherwise this would take but a few moments."

"Why can't you split her essence along with yours?" Kai asked curiously. Naruto took a moment to consider his choices weather or not to tell the two of them Hitomi's predicament. He mentally shook his head no.

"She's sick, some function of the seal containing her is making her ill and I wish not to agitate her condition by splitting up her essence." Kai and Kazumi both seemed complacent with this answer and Kazumi began preparing a containment field seal array, Naruto assisting wherever possible. Five minutes later saw Naruto standing in an ink drawn circle that was glowing with a dim blue aura. Naruto who was standing in the center took both hid hands and placed them on the two hemispheres of his skull and dug his fingers deep into the top of his head till they were half submerged.

"Here we go." Naruto said with trepidation before pulling his hands in their opposite directions making a fissure and splitting in farther and farther apart. By this time Naruto was grunting heavily and was beginning to spew raw chakra from the crack in his head like a waterfall, the surrounding area quaking at the power output. Kai and Kazumi were watching this in fascination as the massive crack sank lower and lower on Naruto's body, seeing bright blue and wisps of red smoke rise out of the crack and into the air before hitting the transparent containment field. 20 minutes later saw Naruto just about completely split down the middle to his nether regions and was screaming his lung out at the power he was using to push the two sides apart.

When finally Naruto was completely separated from his left and right sides they fell unceremoniously to the ground. Kai and Kazumi were alarmed with this display as what they were seeing wasn't within the realm of reality. Their eyes bugged out as they saw the chakra that was flying around in the air sink back to the ground flying to the missing sides of the two halves. Kai almost lost his stomach contents when he saw the two halves sprout their missing limbs with a gush of power and smoke. The two Naruto's rose from their position on the ground taking hold of each other to help the other stand up. Kazumi eyed the display in front of her wearily.

"Naruto are you alight?" she asked raiding her voice for him to hear.

"Yea I'm fine Sensei I'm just feeling a little weird being in two places at the same time and seeing with an extra set of eyes," he shook his heads. "I have no idea how a Hyuuga can deal with this."

"You have awareness in both bodies? That would be quite troubling at the beginning but I'm sure that you will grow used to this situation for however long it is needed. Collect your bearings and prepare an explanation for your daughter, seeing two of you might freak her out a little bit."

"She's a smart girl and my daughter, don't sorry about her she's stronger then you realize." Naruto one and two said in unison as they both walked to the edge of the sealing circle they had split inside of. They paced both their hands on the ink line and sent a small charge of chakra through their hands into the ink.

"Chakra Element: fire." The ink on the ground spontaneously ignited in a flash of flame then vanished. The task done the Naruto's joined the onlookers whom had curious expressions painted on their faces.

"Chakra has 5 defined elements that a person can be attuned to correct?" one Naruto asked.

"What I just did was change my chakra to a fire type when I pushed it out. I haven't actually tried the other chakra types yet but I will soon as the seals for my initiates will outline the bearer's affinity, unlike me they will only have one affinity as apposed to my five." Leaving it at that the Naruto duo began the walk back to the village; Kai and Kazumi following behind them shortly thereafter.

* * *

Hanabi sat on the bed of the room that she had slept in the night previously with a major scowl on her face; she had just been forced to endure an oral probing from that dreaded device that her dad and everyone else called a tooth brush. Shortly after her dad left Yugito and her got into a struggle about brushing her teeth and since she wouldn't willingly comply with having something jammed into her mouth with foul tasting foaming paste Yugito had to pin Hanabi in place on the bathroom counter forcefully holding her jaw open so that the older girl could brush her teeth.

In her current mood she had warded off everyone that had been in the room before she came back from the bathroom. Temari Kankuro and Gaara who were having a rather intense discussion about something with Isaribi speaking up every now and them. The second Hanabi came into the room they all shut their mouths before mere minutes later running from the look on her face, Kankuro got so freaked out he wet himself.

"Stupid toothbrush, stupid paste." She ranted while spitting every few seconds.

"Hanabi Namikaze what exactly are you doing?" Naruto said coming into the room. Hanabi who had froze mid-spit and now had a string of saliva sliding down her chin as she stared at the doorframe where her dad stood.

"It looks to me like she's spitting, a very disgusting habit. Wipe your chin this second missy!" a second Naruto said coming right through the one at the door. Hanabi was so shocked at seeing two of her dad she hadn't heard his command.

"Hanabi!" they called at the same time snapping her out of her shock.

"D-daddy!" she squeaked shrinking backwards.

"Wipe the drool from your face, we need to have a little talk." they said with hard voices. Hanabi bolted from the room into the bathroom to wash the drool away, her face as white as a sheet.

**'That was quite harsh of you Naruto.'** Hitomi admonished. Naruto shook his head mentally.

'It is necessary, I know what the Hyuuga are like in Konoha, and they have no humility within them. I cannot sugar coat a scolding to save Hanabi from feeling bad…in the world we live in innocence is a luxury that is impossible to live with for very long; its for this reason almost all children born will have those command seals placed on them and become trainees, those who don't live by the sword can still die by them. This is why I want my village to be within reach of the civilians, so that the recruitment of trainees is unhindered…I can foresee a lot of concerned and angry parents arguing with me about this. Back to Hanabi though if I don't show hard discipline now then she will grow arrogant and prideful and those two characteristics are what comes before a fall.'

"Hanabi's hiding in the bathroom." Naruto 2 said walking into the bathroom. Finished with his internal monologue the other Naruto followed the other into the bathroom, phasing right through the door that Hanabi had slammed shut in her haste to get into the bathroom.

* * *

Hanabi splashed water onto her face, taking with it the drool and other fluids with it down the drain of the sink. She eyed her dad phase through the wood of the bathroom door and quickly wiped her face dry with a towel. While staring at her father she noted that her fathers double had come as well, both standing side by side looking at her intently. For the longest time nothing was said and Hanabi was wilting under her fathers' gaze.

"What had I asked you to do when I left?" one of them asked, his voce without feeling.

"Have something to eat, clean up, brush my teeth and say goodnight to everyone." Hanabi said, her gaze falling from her father to the floor.

"Are you talking to me or the floor? Look at me when you're speaking to me young lady." Naruto admonished. Hanabi slowly raised her head, her eyes meeting the crystal blue orbs of her father.

"Hanabi I know you don't like brushing your teeth and that the taste is horrible but you have to do it, I've told you this too many times to keep count. You're my daughter…you have to set an example for the others and you throwing temper tantrums about someone brushing your teeth because you didn't want to is not the way to go about doing that. I don't enjoy having to tell one of my friends to do these things to you; it saddens me a great deal that you're fighting against me when all I'm trying to do is help you. What do you think you need to do now?" he asked her.

"Apologize?" she asked.

"I'm not the one you hit in here earlier Hanabi, I can tell that you hitting Yugito, who was only looking to help you like I am, was hurt a lot that you wanted to hurt her. Before the day is done you have to have apologized to your aunt. If not well…" Naruto said with a sad sigh. Hanabi's eyes widened and her nonexistent pupils dilated in fear, she loved her dad so much she didn't want to part from him, her dad kept the nightmares of a big scary white eyed man away and made her happy and she didn't want to lose any of those things.

"No! I'll apologize I promise!" she shouted desperately. Naruto eyed her appraisingly.

"You know what you have to do... you made a promise, now go do it…we'll talk about your spitting punishment later on." Naruto said, the second Naruto opening the door so that she could get out and make good on her promise. Naruto looked at his other half moments after.

"Prepare the sealing matrix from the chamber; I'll collect the initiates so that they can be marked. We'll use Hanabi's room for it." Naruto said before one of him vanished in a dense haze of smoke.

'Alright let's get this show on the road.' Naruto thought as he focused his mind to the sealing chamber in his mindscape.

* * *

"…So that's basically what we've planned out, Naruto will country hop to find the remaining tailed beast demons while we stay here and set up the sealing matrix for Naruto's great plan all around the north island. He will be back with the rest of our kind." Yugito explained to Temari and Kankuro when they had asked what their next plan of action would be.

"We'll be living here?" Kankuro asked incredulously drawing some stares from a few townspeople to which the kabuki paint wearing boy blushed in embarrassment. Temari shook her head sadly at Kankuro's behavior, it seemed as though he couldn't ever say the right thing, or not say anything as the case may be. Idly Temari caught the telltale sign of Hanabi's small form heading towards the three of them and debated weather running away from the scary girl was a good idea.

That thought seemed to cross Kankuro and Isaribi whom had taken to standing a little ways of from where Kankuro and she had taken up standing with Yugito outside their temporary accommodation. Yugito eyed the approaching girl with a keen eye, noting that the young girl was lacking the dark aura she had been engulfed in earlier on in the morning. The blonde demon host spared a glance to the brother sister combo standing with her and seeing them rather tense about the approaching Hanabi decided to give them a break.

"You two can relax, she's not on a rampage anymore, I believe Naruto sorted her out." She said trying to ease the two's fear of the incoming Hanabi. Temari and Kankuro set out a sigh and their shoulders slumped after hearing this making Yugito redirect her attention to the brown haired girl that was now standing by her side with her head bowed low.

"Yes Hanabi, is there something you need?" Yugito asked, curious as to what Hanabi was here for.

"Auntie Yugito…I…I'm very sorry for how I acted this morning in the bathroom. I know you want what's best for me like daddy does but I hate the toothbrush, it makes me not feel good." Hanabi said with an audible wobble in her voice. Yugito squatted to be with Hanabi at equal height and placed her hands on Hanabi's shoulders.

"I won't lie to you Hanabi, you hitting me in the bathroom hurt me and I know that it wasn't fair for you to be forced into doing something you don't like in the slightest but like you said your dad and I want what's best for you. I am partly to blame for what happened, I pushed you rather harshly and I and your dad are sorry that it went that far." The demon hostess said wrapping her arms around the small girl to whom returned the hug in earnest.

Their small moment however was shattered as something became aware to Yugito; Naruto was standing a little ways off with Temari, Kankuro, Isaribi, Kai, Kazumi, Rai and Gobi looking in on them. She watched as Naruto's face mask blurred out of existence on his face showing his fox-like smile.

"Yugito while it is nice that you have made peace with Hanabi there are other things that need to be done today, if you would join us then we can proceed with planning our next steps." Naruto called to them. Sighing in disappointment at the fact that she couldn't enjoy more private time with her adopted niece Yugito stood up taking Hanabi into her arms and processed to carry the little girl with her over to where Naruto and the others were gathered. It was only when she reached the gathering did she see another Naruto and blinked.

"I can see you ripped yourself in half. Congratulations." She said with a slight mocking tone of voice. Naruto shot her an amused look as he, or at least of him took Hanabi from her. Both him and his twin walked to the front of the assembled group and turned to face them all.

"Alright listen up, here's what's going to be happening from today onwards. I'm sure that you've all been told a little bit about what will be happening around here, I'm going to explain it to you so that none of you are confused. Rai, Isaribi, Kankuro and Temari step forward please." Naruto asked with a slight hand wave. The asked stepped forwards from those gathered.

"I'll be leaving for about a year and a half to two years, during this time the four of you with Hanabi are to train in my secret arts of Chakra Manipulation or Telekinetic Chakra control as it had been called by Hitomi sensei in the past. The seals that are on Hanabi's body will be placed on you for this training to take place, after which you will receive tuition from either me or any of the older members of our little band. You will learn various methods to eventually use your chakra in ways not unlike how I use my own chakra. While this is happening I will also be coordinating the construction of the multidimensional field that will be created over this island for our village to reside in with the help of both those assembled here and hopefully the townspeople."He paused.

"In three years the Village Hidden in Shadow will rise, a sanctuary to all those in need of a new start, people not unlike myself or Isaribi who have been casted aside due to what we may look like or what we represent in the eyes of others. Will those selected for the rank of Initiate for the Hidden Shadow Village follow my other self into the provided building for the sealing, Isaribi remain for a moment." Naruto let Hanabi down on the ground and those selected to be initiates minus Isaribi left for their temporary housing. When they disappeared inside Naruto turned to the covered girl.

"While looking for others like Gobi and I, I'll also be searching for a well versed medic ninja to assist in curing you of your condition which Orochimaru had afflicted you with. With any luck I'll be able to find someone with the skills to reverse what has been done to you." Naruto wasn't able to say much else after this as Isaribi had tackled Naruto and was now hugging him very tightly, tears of happiness flowing freely down her face which was hood free from falling off her head by her speed burst.

"Thank you…so much." She said between sniffs. Naruto patted her back lightly for a moment before ushering her to where the other initiates were taken. With a light spring in her step Isaribi and Hanabi whom was sharing in her friend's joy disappeared inside leaving Naruto with the older half of his gang. After the two girls disappeared the atmosphere grew more serious.

"You do realize that what you've more or less promised the girl can probably only be done by Tsunade Senju of the Legendary three ninja, one of Konoha's Sannin." Kazumi pointed out sagely. Naruto nodded his head already knowing this.

"Yes I know that sensei, there's no need to worry though; I have a foolproof plan." Naruto said with a great deal of confidence.

"Oh, and what would that plan be?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well it's actually two, in case the first doesn't work. The first is challenging Tsunade to a bet, since she's nicknamed the Legendary Sucker for her abysmal luck when it comes to any form of gambling I feel that the odds are in my favor and any bet I strike is down pat, said bet is that if I can beat her in a fight then she'll help me and if I lose I pay off all her gambling debts." Naruto explained with a wide grin.

"What's the other plan?" she asked not even going to comment of the first one.

"Guilt trip!" he said cheerfully causing everyone to look at him blankly.

"My fathers will, if he has one most likely states that should anything happen to my mother to result in me becoming an orphan then I am to be shipped off to live with my closest family relative, which his Will most likely states is Tsunade Senju, My father's adoptive mother." Everyone gawked hearing this.

"How can you possibly know that?" Kazumi asked in astonishment, she hadn't given him the scroll she'd taken from Konoha.

"Years ago when I was still a citizen of Konoha I had to teach myself history as no one would teach or talk to me outside the usual profanities. I had to teach myself how to read and from there I read a great many history books from within the archives of the Hokage's library; had old Sarutobi not had a soft spot for me then none of us would be here right now. Anyway as I was saying, from when I could first form conscious thought and was told the edited version of he 4th Hokage's reign over Konoha I wanted to know as much about him as I possibly could, it became a fixation though I could not show it outright which lead me to create a metaphorical mask of a prankster to throw off suspicion."

"This gave me training, even though I didn't know it at the time, in the art of stealth which enabled me to get the information I did. I pieced together from near to hundreds of historic scrolls and records that my father was a nobleman from the land of fire who had been left for dead when his parents were targeted for assassination. He was around Hanabi's current age when Sarutobi's gennin cell came upon him while on a recon mission; Tsunade healed him and brought him back to Konoha from where they developed a familial bond."

"This is as far as I know the truth so I hazard the guess that if anything were to happen to both my parents then as I said, I'd be spirited away to live with my grandmother instead of the village and away from all that hatred. Is that not what my fathers will states Kazumi sensei?" Naruto asked the wizened old woman. Kazumi pulled a sealing scroll out of her deep robe pocket and unsealed from it another scroll which she handed to Naruto.

"When Gobi was causing chaos in the Hidden Leaf I snuck into the Hokage's office where Rai and I located and took this from a secure seal in the office that I had broken open. This is undoubtedly your father's Will that was probably never read judging by its condition and by the securities placed on it I'd assume that there were added precautions laid upon it thereafter your fathers passing. Someone... possibly the third Hokage never wanted you to see this as you were a security risk to the village because of the sealing that Minato performed on you. So simply put there's no way to tell what the contents of this scroll are without these securities being removed." Naruto's visage instantly darkened.

"The Third Hokage huh? Why the hell does everything end up tracing back to the hidden leaf village, I just want to move on but it seems that this is one skeleton in my closet that I can't just simply ignore. As the matter stands we will continue as planned and construct our hidden ninja village while at the same time recruit as many Initiates as possible before the time of a ninja exam in Konoha comes along in a few years." Kazumi looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"A ninja exam? You men one like-" Kazumi started before Naruto cut her off.

"A Chuunin exam is a formal event that draws all hidden villages together as a show of good faith and to promote peace as the exam in itself is a replacement for war, there won't be one held in Konoha for quite a few years yet but when that happens we will reveal ourselves to the world as Ninja from the Hidden Shadow Village and to eliminate that accursed bloodline once and for all." His last words catching everyone present completely off guard.

"Wh-what?" Yugito stammered. Naruto gave a long heave of air before speaking again.

"The Bloodline that started just about all the pain and suffering since the founding of the elemental nations is… the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan. It has the unholy power to control demons of any caliber to do whatever the wielder commands, such power should be wiped from the planet, as decreed by Hitomi Sensei. By her reckoning there are only three sets of Sharingan eyes left in this world which makes it much easier for us, Excluding Kakashi Hatake's Sharingan as he can never use it to its full potential."

"That's a little extreme don't you think?" Yugito exclaimed asked, her voice at a much higher pitch then usual giving away her shock at Naruto's statement, Gaara nodding his head in agreement to her statement.

"The Sharingan breeds greed and an insatiable lust for power, such things will destroy the world, its destruction is far from extreme, it is necessary." Naruto turned his head slightly upwards as if in a trance suddenly halting any further comments.

"On a lighter note the other me has successfully sealed Temari and Kankuro's chakra, their chakra natures are Wind and Earth respectfully which means that they will have an infinitely easier time manipulating that element above the other chakra elements. I will teach them to harness the power of their element when they build up enough chakra until then they will work on dexterity and awareness. I can count on you four to teach these?" Naruto asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I can teach them dexterity, it won't be a problem; that it of course if you don't mind learning humility as well." Kazumi spoke, a spark appearing in her eyes.

"Through what exactly?" Kai asked curious.

"Dancing of course, it will teach dexterity, the ability to dodge on instinct, humility by the very way one learns dancing and last of all gracefulness to make sure that all their movements are fluid and not stocky and rigid." All the demon containers present could now identify what that gleam in her eyes was, it was anticipation; she couldn't wait to start those lessons.

"As for awareness," she continued. "Everyone present can assist me in that endeavor, my corporeal illusions will teach them all they need to know about being aware of their surroundings and the need to adapt to any given situation." The elderly Shioha explained. Naruto, Kai, Yugito and Gaara nodded in agreement.

"Now that that is settled I best go off and find where the village chief is so that we may begin our negotiations for us to use his village and grant us an audience with this islands feudal lord… if they have one at all. You all better rest up as I can tell that the next few years are going to be one long bumpy ride. Sensei can I have a word with you briefly?" he asked the oldest member of the group. As the other three left the elderly woman quirked an eyebrow at Naruto in question.

"I know you're getting on in years and it's not very ethical for me to ask so many tasks from you however I need to complete my sealing training. As of right now I'm adept with many sealing arts as shown by the seals I placed on Hanabi, Temari, Kankuro and now Isaribi but those seals incorporate a few demonic sealing theories…I need to complete my training from you if I am to claim the status of a sealing master, will you complete my training with the other me while I'm gone?" Naruto asked humbly. Kazumi gave a light sigh.

"Three things Naruto, one being that you are already my pupil and never ceased to be since we separated, the other is this," Kazumi launched a chakra laced fist to Naruto's face blowing it clean off his shoulders.

"Don't make cracks at my age, I may look old and am getting on in my years but I still have a good 2 decades left in me, I'm only in my late fifties. And lastly it is my job as a sensei to teach my pupil what I know, if I thought that my teaching others in other aspects of living in a ninja world would hinder my tutoring you in the sealing arts I would not have put forward my name as a teacher for your future ninja, so don't worry about it. Now enough of this' tell me how it feels being in two separate places at the same time?"

"Its very complex to describe, I can operate both bodies with a single mind yet keep their thoughts separate from the other so as not to screw with their movements. We know what the other knows instantly in the back of our minds like a sixth sense but are able to act independently of the other. There is one difference between the two of us though, the other me doesn't hold any of Hitomi's power, and all of its strength is my own split in half. As for where Hitomi is concerned her power and consciousness isn't separated along with mine as we don't know what that could do to her in the condition she's in. so to sum up what I'm trying to say is that we, the two me's are two parts of a single consciousness which are mentally linked to the other which is capable of independent thought and action. That's the best way that I can begin to describe it. Now if you would excuse me I have a village chief to locate." As Naruto started down the street to the main road of the village to locate the chief Kazumi shook her head.

'After this is all said and done I just know that I'm going to feel 3 times older then i should…what a drag.'

* * *

Naruto did not like what he was seeing right now, he was in the office of the village chief and while he was outwardly displaying a welcoming attitude the room stank of fear. Right now he was sitting with the middle aged man as the chief conveyed his thanks for sending his group to their village, and Naruto had heard just about enough.

"Alright old man I don't know what it is that has you so wound up but I want some answers, and you better not lie to me and tell me you have no idea what I'm talking about because if those words come out of your mouth..." Naruto let the threat hang in the air while his eyes bled a dark red from the once calm blue.

"I can't, they'll kill me." He whispered. Naruto knitted his brow raising one eyebrow at the civilian leader.

"Old man not that I want to toot my own horn or anything but I'm the most powerful person on this entire island, if there's something I or my followers can help you with then by all means tell me so that I may help." Naruto offered. The older man crept towards Naruto.

"They've infiltrated the village and control more than half of it, everyone in this village is but a mere civilian not versed in the arts of the ninja world which is why we live on this secluded island; we had no way to repel them even if we wanted to."

"Who is 'they'?"

"The people in the neighboring town, those people work for that maniac Orochimaru. Most of the village is unaware of this and live as normal, but those like me in a position of authority can see past the shroud they produce. We couldn't even get a message out for help to clear these people out so you can understand when your disciples stumbled unto my town I knew you could help us. I'll give you anything you want if you can just get rid of them."

**'This would explain the feint stench of serpents I can smell, he's telling the truth. I say we help this man out and take his village as a reward, you were going to do it anyway but this way the people of this town will be even more accepting of you and your disciples...by the way since you have your ears open to suggestions can you possibly bring something for me to devour, maybe some human life force?'** Hitomi asked hopefully. Naruto shook his head at her request.

'I'll think about it, though if my guess is accurate there wont be enough power in the life force I'd extract to grant you even a fraction of satisfaction...but I'll do it.' Naruto said resigning to the fact that he'd most likely have to do similar tasks in the near future till Hitomi had her baby.

"Old man we have an accord, you'll be serpent free by the end of tomorrow and I'll have negotiated my terms with this islands feudal lord and be in charge of this town from then on so that something like this doesn't happen again. I'll see you soon." Naruto said with a finality tone before he seemed to disperse like smoke in an unseen breeze.

Several moments later Naruto reappeared in the lodging that they were provided where his group was now residing, he turned to face Gobi who was resting on his hind legs resting his head on his front paws at the front door, his tails lay flat on the ground under him.

"Gobi I have a job for you..."

* * *

AN: There it is ladies and gentlemen, Chapter 10 in all its technicolor glory. Now some may say that this chapter may seem a little rushed and there are holes and things that don't quite make sense in this chapter, I would very much appreciate it if and when you read this chapter and you find something that seems out of place that you tell me this in a review.

FWI: If you look at this chapter and think "WTF" about Isaribi's involvement in it I confess that I haven't actually SEEN those parts of Naruto cannon (My thinking that she resided in that area at that time and thought "Why the hell not?"), hence the no doubt big difference between the Isaribi in Cannon and the one I've no doubt made OOC in this chapter. (your opinions and thoughts on this are welcomed too.)

On that note I'd very much like to hear my readers views and thoughts on my work so far, what parts of my story you really enjoy and what bits you don't like so much (please give a reason though!)

Lastly I'd very much like to hear your thoughts about my (hopefully) unique approach to the Tailed Beasts. If you don't understand what I mean scroll up to Hitomi saying she's going to be a mother.

Before I go I'll point out that the next Chapter will most likely start after Naruto's little venture around the elemental counties (recruitment drive). You know what that means... a time skip! It'll be for the actual creating of the village as that will take too long and to be honest it'll bore me to death to write it.

Thats about it, you know what you have to do now so get to it.

* * *

AN2: I've Fixed as many of the Isaribi mistakes I could find, if there are still some left tell me. I've also corrected the name of the Container of the Yonbi(4 tailed Lizard) from Akira to Roushi and changed Pein's hair from blonde to orange.

* * *

AN3: For those who have gotten confused about the Madara and the Chakra poison and saying that only Orochimaru was poisoned, it is a type of chakra poison not like that of Orochimaru's; Orochimaru's poison attacks the entire chakra network, Madara's affliction only blocks off the chakra points in the infected area and as a result,the points are made useless to mold or hold chakra. I hope this clears up the confusion that some of you have.


	11. United We Stand

AN: Hello Everyone! It's been a long time coming but it is finally here, Chapter 11 has arrived just in time for Christmas! I hope this update finds you well.

To those that have reviewed this story, I am indebted to you all, you are what drive me to continue writing this story, it is all thanks to you. [You and the manga {it's just gotten ridiculous hasn't it?} that is so Sasuke centered with his "I'm a true avenger" bullshit attitude I can't stand it. Oh and Sakura and her lying confession to Naruto, she's a real bitch I honestly hope that if she reaches him, Sasuke will do the one good thing and kill her and incinerate her with Susanoo and Amaterasu {Yes I hate her that fucking much} before letting Naruto shove a RasenShuriken up his ass for being such a dick.

Anyway now that I've pretty much finished ranting about that... I'd also like to thank T.D Sugoi for beta'ing this chapter.

There may be slight inconsistencies with the events in the chapter, which can happen when writing something this big over an extended period of time( with gasps of weeks to months in between writing - if that doesn't cause problems I don't know what don't), so if you see any please don't hesitate to tell me so I can fix it. Also I've been notified that there could be some mix ups with the spelling of certain words such as Rei and Rai (same goes for the Kage name that Naruto has adopted, Reikage and Raikage).

I think that about sums everything I wanted to say so I'll let you get onto reading the chapter now, cheers!

* * *

"This is it guys, that bubble on the horizon is our safe haven," Naruto said to the small band behind him. A dark-skinned mountain of a man - who had sunglasses, a goatee, a tattoo of two bull horns on his left cheekbone, and 7 swords sheathed on his person - eyed the hemisphere.

"Uh Naruto not to sound ungrateful, but aren't you being a little too faithful? That thing looks so tiny it'll barely hold my-"

"Don't you dare finish that line Kirabi, there's a lady present," A girl with aqua colored hair spoke up. She placed her hands on her hips after interrupting the dark skinned man.

"What lady, I don't see a lady anywhere." Roushi stated; turning his head from left to right as if looking for something. The girl's eye twitched at this action, and she cocked her fist back to lay one on the red head.

"Knock it off you three. Bee there's no need to worry about space; the shroud covering the village is an illusion. The Pocket actually spreads out to cover the entire island and beyond. When I created the Pocket and unleashed the power to open it I didn't think that there would be other sub dimensions around in the immediate area. There are several domains bordering the Pocket, summoning animal domains to be precise. The pocket's dimension barrier was to such a degree that it actually overlaps a few summoning realms so it quite possibly goes on for miles upon miles without end." The three of them looked at him in astonishment.

"Hot damn! You da Man!" Kirabi shouted making the other three groan.

"Let's just get going, I've told the others we'd be there in about 2 minutes and I don't like being a liar." Naruto said advancing towards the hemisphere. The other three left to catch up to him.

"So Naruto do you mind running through our current ranks?" Roushi asked. Naruto turned to eye Roushi for a moment before shrugging.

"Don't see why not, there are fourteen others including us with formal training of any sort with a training program to commence shortly to train more. There is our Sealing Expert, Kazumi Shioha and her grand daughter Rai, who's our espionage specialist despite her age.

Then there's Shukaku's vessel, Gaara who has masterful control of sand and landscape altering techniques; he's created a taijutsu style called the Sand fist which he uses to elongate his limbs and strike distant enemies.

Next is Yugito Nii who contains the two tails. She's proficient in a style called the Shocking Fist, where she turns her Lightning affiliated chakra throughout her body to strike and stun her opponent on contact. She is also able to generate weak magnetic fields, though she hasn't gained enough skill to do anything with this ability.

Kai is merged with the three tailed turtle and he's a genius as well as a brilliant strategist. He excels at manipulating natural chakra in the environment to bend nature to his will.

Gobi has finally learnt to communicate with humans and is able to shift his form into that of a human though he mostly stays in his dog form as it is more comfortable.

There's Temari, Gaara's older sister, who wanted to be one of the Hidden Sand's wind mistresses. Then there's Kankuro who wanted to become a master puppeteer ninja greater than the likes of Sasori of the red sands.

Next is Isaribi, who was one of Orochimaru's failed experiments once upon a time. She was physically changed to carry characteristics of sea creatures to give her greater control over water techniques, almost allowing her to breath underwater.

Last of the lot is my daughter, Hanabi who I rescued when I broke Gobi out of the Leaf Village. Apart from them there are a few local villagers who have the Spirit Seal on them and are waiting for the next phase of the training to become Initiates like the others.

With the four of us that makes it a total of 14 capable fighters with Kazumi at Master level, Kai, Gaara and Yugito at adept level, and the others at initiate level. I'm hoping to have at least a half dozen more before the half year mark comes though then we can introduce ourselves to the world and take the fight to the Akatsuki to where I've located a few recent hotspots and a few weaknesses here and there."

"It's sort of freaky how you know so much about what goes on half a continent away you know?" Roushi asked with a slight shiver.

"How do you do that anyway? What's your secret?"

Naruto put his open palm out to the other three to see. "Creation art: fly on the wall," He muttered. In mere seconds there was a fly buzzing around their heads.

"It's truly amazing where people will let flies propagate and where they can hide if they're not noticed. That's how I knew that the Bee's brother was being overprotective and would never make any decisive action where the beasts are involved. I have a lot of these flying about the Elemental countries, that's how I know so much; though there are still some key people I have yet to find using this technique."

"How do you mean?"

"Well I have to steer clear of Fire country as they have the Byakugan that can see that these are not real flies making them nigh useless for spying. The other reason being the Aburame Clan of Konoha who are able to communicate with insects of all kinds, since these flies aren't real insects an Aburame would know that this was a fake making it again useless. They are real time Intel gatherers so I don't need them destroyed for me to learn what they learn. These have the added bonus of making sure that the info in genuine as I can get it from the source directly without a middleman," Naruto explained as he neared the giant archway.

"Ne Naruto this place is full of civilians; I can't sense any demonic power at all," Roushi said gaining the affirmative nods from the other two hosts.

"That's because in this village there are only civilians, our home is in there," Naruto stated as he stood just in front of the archway. Then Naruto simply waved his hand at the arch and to the surprise of the three spectators, a light translucent mist suddenly appeared under the arch in a quick 'whoosh'. The three hosts looked on in wonder as the scenery from the village they saw not a few seconds ago change into a wide space which had buildings circled around it in the near distance.

"This is where we live." Naruto said gesturing to the scene in front of him before walking through it; the other three walking in on behind him in total silence, still in awe at what they had just seen. Naruto let them stand there with their mouths agape as they observed their surroundings. Buildings were structured around the arch in a circle with four distinctive lines, extending from the gate and breaking up the circle into quarterly pieces. There were only a few housing structures on their left with hardly any on their right. Deciding that they had had enough site-seeing for the moment he called them to attention to explain things.

"Guys and girl the buildings on your left are residences, you'll be building your own homes, but until then you'll be staying with my daughter and I. The entire section behind that tower you'll find lush with plant life and grass, perfect areas to construct training grounds but keep in mind there is a boarder. I said earlier that the Pocket overlaps with several summoning dimensions; to tell you the truth when I created the Pocket I actually rearranged the boarders a small fraction so anywhere passed a double black line on the ground some ways off is out of bounds till you have gained access from the summoning boss of that particular area.

Most of the tribes around are quite friendly and are not overly hostile to outsiders, but if you trespass on their lands without informed consent well its not going to be pretty. I've settled a peace agreement with them which is why we don't have summoning beasts trampling through here, but a word to everybody…always be polite and show respect no matter what; everyone's behavior here reflects back upon the pact I made with them and I do not want to look bad before the formal summit." Naruto explained his voice stone hard. The three hosts exchanged bewildered expressions before turning to face Naruto again.

"Exactly how many summons boarder our dimension area Naruto?" Kirabi asked.

"Quite a few, the toads that are affiliated with Jiraiya of the Legendary Three Ninja of Konoha have residence on the mountain far on my left, the apes contracted to Hiruzen Sarutobi are in the forested trees some 5 kilometers from here. To the south west you'll see a glacial mountain quite close by, that place houses several animals that live in harmony with each other those animals being the ice bears and penguins. Their dimension is so cold in some parts that it actually goes through to the human realm and freezes it in dry ice. There are others scattered around here and there and I haven't yet be able to meet with them because I've been busy building and teaching my students basic skills. It was basically a meet and greet deal because I was a little out of time." Naruto finished with a content puff.

"Wow." Was all that Fu was able to get out.

"You said it sister…hey Naruto if this is a pocket dimension how come there's a sun here? Shouldn't this be a barren wasteland?" Kirabi asked ignoring the glare that Fu was sending him for the sister remark.

"We essentially live in a part of the world of summons, meaning that the world has the same sort of worldly structure the human world does. It has trees, water, a sun, a moon, wind and air. It just so happens that the summons' worldly dimension is parallel to the human world, what the summons prefer to call the human realm.

If this dimension wasn't parallel to ours then we wouldn't have the ability to summon beasts of great power to aid ninja in battle and what not. All I can say is that I couldn't have asked for a better result when I punched a hole into this dimension, though I was told I scared the shit out of the summon bosses here. I wish I could have seen that," Naruto said laughing heartily. The other three hosts started to laugh at the image of said event when a loud cry sounded stopping them instantly.

"Well I'll be damned, it looks as if Hanabi's seal has grown to full maturity, come on guys lets go and have you meet the rest of your colleagues, I'm sure they'll be quite excited to meet you as I've told them so mush about you," Naruto said as he headed right towards the training area.

* * *

Hanabi was currently running around in circles like a headless chicken on one of the three training grounds that was set up.

Naruto sat on he ground calmly waiting for Hanabi to tire out from her yelling before he said anything. He knew from experience that she wouldn't listen to anything until she had burnt all the adrenalin that her body had in its system. Gaara and his siblings, Yugito, Kai and Rai, whom were working on their own individual training, watched as the small girl made a scene. For about two minutes they watched the brown haired girl run around the training field like a crazy person before she finally calmed down.

"Hanabi come here." The clear calm command from Naruto ceased all movement as Hanabi complied with the order, huffing and puffing as she started to feel her muscles burn from her exertion just moments ago. Standing in front of her cross-legged father, Hanabi looked at her power seal; three or so minutes ago her seal 'popped' sending her into a frenzy.

"You are now ready to begin your training to harness your stored power. Congratulations are in order Princess, you can go on a Ramen binge tonight." Naruto said with a wide smile. He regretted those words the second he said them however, as Hanabi started to hyperventilate in excitement. The others who were watching all cringed at the memory of the last time Hanabi went on a Ramen binge and they all cowered at the thought of it happening again.

Flashback

It had been after a very extensive training period with dance and awareness practice that saw Hanabi and her friends in a random eating establishment.

"I don't care what they serve here, I want something to eat or I'm going to die of hunger and exhaustion," Hanabi grumbled rudely as she sat on one of the many stools at the counter. Hanabi was so aggravated that she had subconsciously activated her Byakugan. Coupled with her roughed up appearance and slight frown at being extremely hungry, the stall clerk was quick to put something in front of her in case she got hostile. The clerk placed a bowl in front of the hungry girl and watched as she picked up the base of the 30 centimeter diameter bowl and breathed in the aroma that was in front of her before snatching a pair of chopsticks with one hand and nearly inhaled the large bowl's contents. After about 10 seconds she placed the ceramic bowl back on the counter and had a glassy-eyed expression on her face; the veins beside her eyes slowly vanishing into her temples. Temari and Isaribi who were the closest to her thought that she was going to be sick from eating so quickly; they jumped up in surprise when the veins bulged out again, her eyes now holding a crazed look.

"More!" she cried. The clerk was quick to comply. The poor fool was hard pressed to keep up with the small girls demand for more food until about 10 minutes later when there was a teetering stack of serving bowls about 2 meters high, swaying dangerously.

Hanabi whom was surrounded by bowls and therefore out of everyone's sight looked on with bug eyes when she reentered their field of vision with a serine smile on her face, her eyes closed and her head turned to the side with her hand rubbing her full stomach.

Naruto who was standing by the door for the duration of Hanabi's eating time walked up to the clerk.

"I think my little girls finished, how much is all of this?" Naruto asked waving his hand to the bowls lettering the countertop. The clerk went to the register, punching in a few buttons while counting all the bowls he saw. He printed off a piece of paper and handed it to Naruto. Taking the offered bill Naruto scanned the number and his eyes bulged in astonishment before returning to normal. He whistled.

"That's a lot of money…hold on a second." Naruto's arms reached towards his abdomen and his arm plunged inside it before returning immediately after with a massive sack of jiggling coins.

"This should cover it." Naruto said with a closed eyes smile before turning to face the initiates standing around still looking around in amazement. "Guys if you're not hungry at all you can help this poor man with cleaning all of these dishes. Of course I'm not saying you can't eat first but I can't pay for you, I'm pretty much broke as of right now." He turned to Hanabi. "I hope you enjoyed that, because you won't be eating here for quite a while if you eat like that," Naruto looked back at the clerk once again. "By the way what was all that that Hanabi ingested?" Naruto asked. The aging man just smiled and pointed to the sign behind him on the wall.

"Nagi Island Ramen stand."

End flashback.

Kankuro looked at his seal on his right wrist, the dark markings bore a slight brown tinge on his arm with a ground/dirt like pattern with fissures breaking out everywhere and sealing up again.

"Hey Naruto-sensei, what do these markings on the seals mean again?" he asked curiously. He felt an impact to the back of his head sending his chin to meet with the dirt.

"You idiot, don't you ever pay attention to what Naruto-sensei told us the day after he placed the seals on us?" Temari scolded him. Kankuro shot her a glare and was about to retort when Naruto interrupted.

"Its fine Temari, some students don't learn well by listening, your older brother is simply one of those people. To answer your question Kankuro the markings indicate what element your chakra is aligned to. Hanabi's seal sways like water in the ocean, because her chakra's alignment is water, your sister's is Wind as shown by the twisters colliding with each other. Yours is Earth as you can see, with many fissures that keep breaking and reforming. With enough training and enough chakra built up in your seal you'll be able to create or charge your element; Hanabi will be able to condense her chakra into a pint of water, Temari will be able to charge the air around her to defend her by brushing off incoming attacks or attack by sucking the air out of her targets and lastly is yours, you can create terrain and mould it any way you like for any purpose whether it be for unbalancing your target in a taijutsu battle for the upper hand or projectile attacks." Naruto lectured.

"What about Fire and Lightning?" Isaribi asked curiously. Naruto got into a thinking pose.

"Well I suppose that the bearer of the spirit seal would be able to generate and control electricity, bending it to their will …Fire I think is pretty much the same deal as lightning with the controlling and creating; the bearer might become immune to being burnt by flames or unleash flames so hot it can melt anything, the possibilities for controlling chakra are only limited to what you and your imagination can come up with and what you can control." He explained. Everyone starred at him in wonder, they didn't know about what they might be capable of when they could start to use their Spirit seal and this newfound knowledge of the kinds of things they could do were amazing.

"However no one will be taught anything until their Spirit seal reaches maturity and you have mastered the lessons you're currently working on."

"But that can wait till later," Naruto said from the other direction making everyone present turn in the opposite direction to see Naruto with three other people with him. Kazumi who was sitting off to the side of the training field teaching Rai more of her Bloodlines skills looked at the three and frowned.

"Naruto I thought you said that there were nine demons, I only count 7 containers and one roaming demon; what happened to the ninth?" the elderly woman asked. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.

"The six tails and his host eluded my every attempt to try and locate him. For some reason, they're both on the run from everybody, never staying in one place too long and always covering their tracks," The second Naruto explained getting a single nod from the Shioha woman.

"Um, Naruto are you telling me that these kids are going to be the brunt of our ninja force?" Roushi asked bewildered.

"There are others as well but they are all at different stages, some just started their training, as have a number of older ninja. I have this group train together because they all know each other and get along well. This group may be kids in your eyes Roushi they have enough power collectively to take on a chuunin…and this is without the use of their chakra related skills as only one out of these initiates has a mature Spirit seal, though the others aren't so far behind, maybe 2 or 3 weeks tops; after that the real sparks will fly," The Naruto with Hanabi answered the former Hidden Stone ninja.

"But Hanabi's Spirit seal was placed a lot earlier than ours, we've only had our seals for about half as long as Hanabi." Isaribi pointed out.

"That is easily explainable. Since Hanabi is younger, her body isn't as mature as yours and doesn't produce as much chakra as the rest of you because you're older. I knew that Hanabi's Spirit seal would take the longest to reach maturity because of her age, so I placed it earlier than I would normally have so that she could be taught as the same time as the rest of you. Your Spirit seal will reach maturity much faster then Hanabi's, as will the rest of them." There was a quick pause till Naruto spoke up again. "Where are my manners… Guys, these are some of the last senior members of our village ninja force. The big dark-skinned man is Kirabi or Killer Bee as he likes to be called; he is the eight tailed Ox's host and partner. As you can probably guess from his appearance he is skilled in swordsmanship and the use of a blade…or seven. He comes from the land of lightning and is the brother of the current Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village." Naruto explained gesturing to the tall man. Killer Bee rose his hands in the air in greeting.

"Yo guys I'm Killer Bee," He yelled out. Roushi discreetly turned to Fu.

"At least he didn't put a terrible rhyme in there, I don't think the kiddies could take such lame lines," The red head whispered, Fu nodded quickly in agreement. Killer Bee turned to the two behind him and huffed.

"Why do you two have to diss my rapping with your mouths a flapping?" he asked indignantly. Roushi and Fu hung their heads hearing this.

"Too late…" they said in unison making Naruto and his double break out in laughter and the children shiver. Killer Bee crossed his arms with a huff.

"Let it go, Bee. Roushi you're up," Naruto said waving his hand recovering from his laughing fit. The red head grunted and stepped forward.

"My name is Roushi, I am the host of the four tailed reptile and am a former jounin of the Hidden Rock Village in the Land of Earth. I'm quite good at earth release jutsu as it's the primary element used in Earth country and I am quite old despite my appearance…I'm 50. I'm also a war veteran having been Rock's secret weapon, even if I was never activated," Roushi said bashfully playing with his high pony tail.

"The Yonbi must be keeping you quite healthy then if you lived this long." Kazumi stated making the red haired man color slightly.

"A war veteran, that was the third great war wasn't it, with Rock Cloud and the Leaf?" Kai asked. Roushi shrugged at his question.

"As I said I was never used. My village assumed that if I was to be unleashed, I would go berserk because of the power that lay inside me; so they never let me into a situation where open warfare was a possibility. I mostly went on high ranked assassination and interrogation missions as the Yonbi's power is quite menacing to those exposed to it. That said, its power is _nothing_ compared to the likes of the 7, 8 and 9 tails' power. I fled the Hidden Rock village once the Tsuchikage heard of Naruto's warning of Akatsuki, and refused help to restrain and maintain complete control of Yonbi's power. My Kage forbade me from any high profile missions, and had me under tight lock and key; even tighter than it usually was. What Naruto said would happen to me had happened," Roushi said with a somber tone.

"Don't dwell on the past Roushi, what's done is done. Fu, you're up," Naruto said breaking the heavy atmosphere that had settled in after Roushi's tale.

The aqua/teal haired teen 'hmphed'.

"I'm Fu, host of the 7 tailed badger, and I fled from Waterfall Village soon after Naruto's transformation into a chakra being. I fled the secluded village in hope of finding another place to stay, and to hide from people that sought to use me. I got as far as the Mist border when I was sighted and detained by a pair of guys in black cloaks with red clouds.

After a brief chase my immediate area blew up and I was banged around a fair bit, before being tied up and carried off in a great deal of pain. I was lucky enough to have my demon assist in healing the wounds I had sustained. For about 5 minutes I waited for the right moment to attempt to flee when an extremely loud shriek penetrated my eardrums making me deaf for a time. As the ringing in my ears sounded I could feel my body being battered around like I was in the middle of a battle zone.

The next thing I knew there was a massively bright flash, and I was snatched away from the two guys in black and red. That's how I met Naruto, Roushi and Bee. Oh right I can do pretty neat tricks with chakra infused water," She said offhandedly. The three newcomers decided after that, a quick look around was in order and bade the younger trainees farewell.

"It's not there right now," Naruto began. "But soon I'm going to have a heavy wall surround our land here, until then, make sure to stay within the boundary line that I placed on the ground. I'll probably get Wave Country's builders to do the job as they are very good contractors. Be good now and please don't do anything stupid," Naruto said as the three hosts started their trek. Naruto broke his stare from the retreating forms of the three new hosts back to his initiates who were standing around thinking about the three newcomers.

"Hey what are you guys doing, time is life, get back to work, finish the exercises you were doing then come with me to get some more mission experience!" Naruto shouted. He almost laughed at the sight of 5 surprised children falling on their butts, startled out of their musings by Naruto's outburst.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a hidden location Orochimaru let out a hiss of pain as he had the poison in his chakra coils purged. By the time the Sannin had tracked Kabuto down. When they were in a secluded enough area, he had Kabuto extract the ailment, but the damage was done. His chakra capacity had suffered from the poison, and degraded to the point where he had only as much as a fresh Chuunin; his coils in no shape to hold or produce more than that.

"You said that a kid did this to you Lord Orochimaru?" the silver haired spectacled boy enquired as he diagnosed the Snake Sannin's chakra coils. The pale faced man grunted.

"That was no kid, the blasted chakra demon did this to me, putrid little brat." He spat.

"I've heard about him, he's supposed to be able to take control of another ninja's chakra network and use their own ninjutsu attacks against them; a truly fearsome power to hold in this world," Kabuto said putting in his own thoughts out in the open. Orochimaru's face, which was scrunched up with loathing for the Chakra demon, suddenly went blank for a moment before setting into a devilish grin that made Kabuto shudder.

"That is an interesting ability…perhaps I can reproduce that effect," Orochimaru said before starting to laugh sinisterly; before he was cut off abruptly, screaming in pain as he felt a liquid burn in his body. Kabuto's eyes widened after he ran a quick diagnostic. Kabuto's hands were engulfed in green chakra as he placed them on the older man's chest.

"The poison is acting like a virus and is capable of reproducing itself from your chakra as well as feeding off it, if there's even the tiniest trace of the poison you'll have a relapse," Kabuto felt a smoldering stare settle on him from the pale faced man.

"I'll get it all this time, I'm sure of it," Kabuto added quickly; doing everything he could to eradicate the poison.

'Regardless of Lord Orochimaru being the afflicted one, this poison is truly a masterpiece, it's unfortunate that it can't be reproduced…' Kabuto thought idly.

* * *

"This is a very strange sight…" Itachi Uchiha mused as he stood at the edge of the forest surrounding the small village that was now blanketed in a shroud of darkness. He had, under Pein's instruction, trailed after the Chakra demon and winded up on Nagi Island. As far as he knew, this shroud was quite new; a few weeks old if Itachi had to guess, and it produced an eerily calm feeling despite how ominous it looked. A bright flash drew the Missing nin's attention grating him the sight before him. 6 figures had appeared at the archway from the flash of light.

"A teleporter?" Itachi mouthed in speculation and awe as he watched the six figures walk into the midst of the shroud. He thought briefly about tailing them into the small dark dome, but decided against it and instead went further into the trees to think about what he had seen.

* * *

The group of six walked at a fast pace following Naruto. Hanabi, Rei, Kankuro, Isaribi and Temari were all chatting amongst themselves, excited at the notion of getting another mission so soon. Naruto gazed at the sky above him; smiling to himself at his own brilliance. He had designed the seal array that created the dimensional hole between this realm and the summoning realm with an added feature: a genjutsu-like shroud that would encompass the village in a hazy blackness from the outside looking in but from the inside looking out it was the exact opposite, there was no darkness. In fact, sunshine baked down on the civilian half of the Spirit village.

Naruto noted that he and his cohorts were being looked at with great deals of respect and adoration, something Naruto was still trying to get used to. It was the polar opposite of what he'd experienced in the Leaf village, and though he had changed things for these people, he was still a little uneasy with the new attention even though it had been a few weeks. They approached and entered a large building with scaffolding set up around its foundation in which a second story was being contracted on its top. The kids all stopped chatting when they were addressed by a woman in her early 30's.

"Lord Reikage thank you for granting my request for assistance with the chief's office building," She said bowing her head slightly letting her shoulder-length brown hair fall in front of her face.

"Think nothing of it Emika, my students need practice dealing with clients and the concept of paid chores that are out of the reach of ordinary citizens. We're happy to help," Naruto replied whilst tilting his head slightly and smiling.

"Speak for yourself," Muttered Kanuro. He had just come to understand what Naruto meant by 'mission experience'. Naruto just grinned as his students were ushered to the job site. Reaching the top of the staircase, they saw a great many slats of timber cut to various sizes. Naruto turned to Emika.

"I'll leave them here under your watch; I have an appointment with the Chief that I need to keep." He turned to his students. "Now behave and do as you're told, no questions. If you misbehave I'll get Kazumi to place you in training simulation 9, which isn't fun at all. Enjoy!" Naruto chirped as he vanished in wisps of smoke.

* * *

The tall form of one Kisame was bowed in front of a holoprojection of a shadowed figure from his ring on his hand.

"Leader the rumors of the nine tails having fled the Leaf village have proven to be true."

"It is as the others reported; The Immortals have reported the same thing, as have Tobi and Deidara." There was silence from the hologram for a moment.

"Regroup with Itachi in the land of water…on second thought no, your standing orders are to return to base D immediately for a thorough debrief and reassignment."

"If I may sir, what is it that Itachi is doing in the Land of Water?" Kisame inquired.

"Itachi is doing recon on an X factor that has recently become a problem, and I suspect the primary reason for our failure at capturing the Tailed Beasts. This unknown player on the board was able to defeat Sasori within moments of their meeting, something that even the most skilled ninja, excluding myself, cannot do."

"But sir with all due respect if this new player is as you suspect, then what hope does Itachi have of gaining any useful Intel?"

"Realistically? None whatsoever. I have sent Zetsu to assist Itachi in this endeavor. This is a very dangerous character, and I cannot afford any slip ups. If my suspicions of this new player are correct, then we will have a major problem on our hands."

"Who or what could throw such a massive clink in our plans?" Kisame inquired again. There was a brief pause from the hologram.

"This new player has dubbed himself the name of The Chakra demon," The man replied.

Kisame's eyes widened in shock. "Are you serious? The same guy who-"

"Slaughtered just about half of Rain's ninja army, my army? The very same one Kisame. For this reason, I'm not taking any chances." Without any warning the shadowed figure vanished leaving Kisame by himself.

'The Chakra demon? We are so boned.' Were Kisame's only thoughts as he knelt in the darkness.

* * *

Air folding on itself and condensing in the middle of the air announced Naruto's arrival at the village chief's office.

"Ah, Lord Reikage I'm glad you made it." The semi old aged man said behind his desk. Naruto's form now ever present in the chiefs office stood in front of the sitting man with his arms crossed.

"I did but please make this quick as there are a few other matters that I need to be attending to shortly."

"I understand Lord Reikage, I will be brief. I request an academy for pre initiate ninja who have the want to be part of your Military force."

Naruto looked at the chief and replied, "These arrangements are already in motion, I need only a building to hold these classes. I do sense, however that this is not the only reason you requested an audience with me?"

"Indeed there is another reason Lord Reikage, I request… no, I demand that there be a medical course loaded into this program. I do not wish death on anyone if it can be helped, or for anyone to be killed unnecessarily because of a skirmish gone wrong. I have a saying, 'Time is life, and a lost life is time wasted'. I wish not to lose any time as in this world. Time is a short and fickle thing that cannot be regained once lost, such is life."

"Do not worry so much, the source of my ninja's power is their spirit seal on their wrist. Among other functions it grants the user, the seal has a failsafe. I haven't told this to anybody because I didn't feel it to be necessary, but each spirit seal has within it a medical function which uses about 10 percent of their total stored chakra and converts it into medical self healing energy that assists in the healing of wounds, big or small, depending on how much chakra is converted. Eight of my ninja, including myself do not have this function as at such levels medical chakra can be lethal to us, so only my subordinates have this sealing attribute."

"That…That's absolutely amazing Lord Reikage, thank you very much; you have appeased this aging man and soothed his worries."

"There is no thanks necessary, I am attached to all of my subordinates; it's only natural that I go to such lengths to help and protect them. Now if there isn't anything else that needs to be brought to my attention, I have some students to check up on. They're assisting the builders with the renovations to your new office building." Naruto's body folded in on itself and he vanished again.

Ikumi, the village chief, shook his head. "That boy will do a fine job as this village's leader, I just wish that the transition between his reign and mine is a quick one…I have some reading to do," Ikumi giggled lecherously thinking of a certain orange book hidden in his office.

* * *

Anko paced the outside corridor of the Hokage Tower nervously. Hiruzen Sarutobi was in his office at the moment, and she had a scheduled meeting with the aging, liver-spotted man. Anko's eyes drifted to the receptionist that had instructed her to wait outside. She was stout with a head of pink hair that cascaded down to her mid-back, making Anko grimace… She was the head of the Haruno family.

Anko refused to call them a clan, as they were one of the many village occupants that showed extreme disdain towards her for being the former pupil of Orochimaru. Anko knew that the said woman had several family members abducted by Orochimaru for his experiments, and since she was the closest one in the village with any ties to the traitor; the matriarch unleashed her frustrations out on her. It didn't help the situation that the woman sitting in front of her was trying to apply for councilmember status which would, when granted, give her family a seat on the village's 'Advisory Council,' or as Anko liked to call them; the Usurping committee whose purpose was to - instead of monitor specific areas for easier management of the village for the Hokage - dictate and influence the Hokage's every decision towards their biased opinions, and in the Haruno's case, aim the full brunt of their hostility towards said bias; namely Anko herself.

'Pretty soon the Hokage position will turn into a puppet act where the Hokage has no say within his own village.' Anko snarled in her head. She was so into her internal ranting that she hadn't heard the Haruno woman address her. The animosity in her voice; however, was unmistakable.

"I'm sorry what was that, I kind of spaced out," Anko muttered; gritting her teeth when the civilian woman glared at her heatedly.

"I said the Hokage will see you now…_snake bitch_," The Haruno matriarch muttered the last bit but Anko heard it. Knowing better than to give into the temptation to have one of her snakes eat the closed-minded woman, Anko just nodded and walked into the office of the Hokage.

The Third Hokage smiled brightly when he saw Anko walk into the room but a frown graced his features as he read her expression as she walked into his office.

"Something wrong Anko?" he asked her as she turned to face him and gave a small bow of respect in the process.

"It's nothing that I can't handle Lord Hokage," Anko replied tightly; making Hiruzen sigh in disappointment. He palmed his face, his hand sliding down and pulling his wrinkles with it.

"Anko what's wrong, I can tell that there's something wrong and I wouldn't be doing my job as Hokage if one of my best ninja had a problem I can't assist with. Tell this old man what's bothering you Anko."

Anko bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Permission granted Anko, what's going on with you today?" Hiruzen immediately rebuked himself for adding those last words as he saw Anko cringe subtly.

"I'm afraid that you may be losing your control with the village, and that the council you trust to advise you in governing this village is sapping your power in the decision-making of the village. Also your secretary wants a council seat to execute me for my involvement in the loss of her family," Anko said plainly.

The Third Hokage stiffened for a moment before a solemn look settled on his features. "I've been wondering about that myself Anko, and to be honest with you, I can see why you would be. The council has become a democratic ruling board in which I have little say in."

"But you're the Hokage can't you do something?"

"If I acted like I think your suggesting I should then I'd set the kindling for possible civil war. If I act against the council then the Fire Lord will want to know why I've excluded the civilian in this village from being part of the decision making. He is a politician and a civilian, he has no understanding of how a ninja's life runs or how to run them, so trying to get him to see where my arguments are coming from will be next to impossible. He will most likely see the civilians in the village walls to be correct that they want to be part of making decisions that would change their lives forever." Anko's face fell at this news, now her future seemed even darker than a few seconds ago.

"I understand Lord Hokage." Anko said with her gaze fixed to the wooden floorboards of the office.

"Be that as it may Anko I am still the leader of this village and as long as that fact remains unchanged I will do everything within my power as Hokage to see that you aren't executed for something as foolish as a vendetta, a very stupid one at that." Anko turned her gaze to meet that of her commander.

"Thank you Lord Hokage," Anko said with a head tilt. Hiruzen nodded his head and leaned back into his chair.

"Now that we have that out of the way I can get to why I called you here, I have a mission for you."

"A mission, what kind of mission?" she asked curiously.

"Diplomatic." That one word launched Anko into a 'hell no' expression.

"This is not negotiable." Hiruzen quirked his eyes with sudden mirth as he went over what he just said. "Anyways, you are going to go to the Land of Water to negotiate a treaty with the new government that has been formed in place of the one that was crushed in their civil war not too long ago. Kakashi and Asuma will be going with you on this mission. There can't be any screw ups which is why I'm sending three jounin. Give this scroll to the newly appointed Mizukage and follow protocol to secure the alliance, even if it is only a non aggression pact. Even if Mist has just come out of their civil war they are still very dangerous and I'd like to show them a sign of good faith and get to know their new leader to establish relations," Hiruzen explained to Anko who nodded in understanding.

"Mission completion will occur when you get back here with their answer, whatever it may be. You leave in 4 hours."

"It will be done Lord Hokage," Anko said before vanishing from the office leaving Hiruzen who was inching towards his secret draw hiding his Make Out Paradise stash...

* * *

Back with Naruto, he and Kazumi were having a small discussion in the house that the light-haired woman had claimed as her family's.

"I would like for you to teach at the Initiate Training Center when it opens in a few months." Naruto blurted, after dancing around the subject for a few moments.

"I see, tell me why call it the Initiate Training Center rather than an Academy?" Kazumi asked her pupil with a raised eyebrow.

"An Academy would suggest an academic work ethic with text books which is not what I'm aiming for. My initiates will do more practical work than theory, as theory itself will be useless half the time. I also chose you because you can test their resolve to become a force of good, and to do what is right at the correct time using your unique skills," Naruto explained.

"You make a good case Naruto, when will I be undertaking this role?" Kazumi asked accepting the teaching position.

"The building needs to be built and properly furnished so it'll take a good 3 months. Until then students, will need to formally apply and get a Spirit Seal branded to each of them," Naruto stood up and headed to the exit when Kazumi called him back.

"What are you going to do in the meantime Naruto?" she asked him.

"I'm going to check up on my current students, bring them here and set and exercise, find Fu, Roushi and Kirabi and find out what expert field they want to teach at the I.T.C then begin Hanabi's initiate training. After all that is done I have a few meeting with a few minor summoning bosses to get to." Naruto explained. Kazumi eyed him with surprise.

"You're going to have a medic course, who's going to teach that?" She asked incredulously.

"My grandmother, I just need to find her and bring her back here. I don't think that Tsunade will object too much, given that she wanted this for the Leaf and got turned down by the village council. Being given the opportunity to help those that need it with the only skills she has to pass on to do so will persuade her. If she doesn't do it for me or to slight Konoha, then knowing that she'll be making a huge difference in this world should be enough."

"And what if it isn't?" Kazumi asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Then I'll just beat her up and bring her back till she can see reason in what I'm going to propose. This _will_ work."

* * *

Naruto sat with Hitomi in his mind. He had made a promise to her that he'd be there for her through her pregnancy, which she took to mean he would sit with her and let her use him as a chew toy for her rants caused by mood swings…not that she knew she was ranting when it happened of course, but Naruto took in stride. He knew she meant well, which was enough for him to sit and endure her fluctuating moods and temper tantrums. Right now, she was just collecting herself from her most recent one-sided screaming match and was currently resting her head in his lap.

"What are you going to name him or her?" Naruto asked suddenly, making sure not to call Hitomi's baby an 'it'. The last and only time he did so, she tore him a new one… he could still feel the phantom pain in his midsection which was odd seeing as he didn't have a physical body anymore.

"I'm not sure; I want something that can describe her…I want to name her Emi or Mieko, for the blessing that she's become in my life," Hitomi replied. Her reply seemed a little distracted, which led Naruto to assume that she was off in her own little world about her baby, he didn't even think to point out that it might not be a girl not knowing that if he did she'd try to destroy him for saying it.

"I think those are beautiful choices," He said while threading his hand though Hitomi's silky red hair.

"How long do you have till you have to go?" the red head asked weakly. Naruto's eyes closed as he checked his internal clock.

"In a moment unfortunately, I have some trainees to pick up and a meeting to get to."

"How do you feel about that?" she enquired.

"A little nervous to be honest, even though it's only a formal introduction with some of them and not an alliance meeting there's a lot riding on these coming meetings, they could mean the peaceful coexistence of us and some of the summons or the beginnings of war which I want to avoid at all costs…war solves nothing and everyone gets hurt in the end, even if you didn't take part in it the aftermath still effects you." Naruto sighed.

"I have to go now Hitomi, I'll see you soon alright?" was all Naruto said before he faded from the sewer.

The moment Naruto vanished Hitomi felt activity from her baby, as if it were trying to say it wanted Naruto back with them. Hitomi sighed as she patted her belly, "I know how you feel, I miss him already too."

* * *

Naruto walked into the chief's future office building and was met with silence.

"What the heck is going on? They're never this quiet…just what the heck is going on in there?" Naruto asked himself as he ascended the spiraling staircase to the next level. Preparing himself to face the worst he closed his eyes and opened the double doors to the room he had left them in. Opening his eyes, Naruto gazed into a room with little bits and pieced of sawn off wood everywhere, the office room far better than it was before yet still incomplete. Naruto spied his students all huddled up against one of the walls snoozing away softly.

"Lord Reikage, time to pick up this ragtag group?" the face of Emika appeared behind him coming up the stairs.

"Ah Emika, yes it is about that time, I can see things have moved along, how were they?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Ah well it was a little shaky at first but a little while into it they finally stopped complaining and placed the slats of wood where I instructed. Just in time for me to issue requests for new builders to begin the rest of the contraction."

"Rest of the construction? I thought you already had builders contracted for this job?" Naruto enquired. Emika's face colored.

"Oh well, you see Lord Reikage the chief at the time hired part time builders which is why its in the state its in. We couldn't afford the increased rate of pay they requested for the rest of the project so we had to let them go."

"That's interesting, I can have some builders employed if you need them, and I hear that Wave country off the coast of Fire country has some of the finest builders so that's where we'll get the help."

"Thank you Lord Reikage, thank you for having your students assist with the manual labor otherwise the building would never get finished."

"Think nothing of it Emika, I am here to help and assist the people of this village however I can. Now I think it's about that time I herd these guys home," Naruto cleared his throat, "WAKE UP!" Naruto yelled at the sleeping forms of his students. They jumped up instantly alert.

"Well what do we have here; it seems that a select few students of mine seem to be slacking off…" Naruto trailed off. Naruto laughed at their expressions of horror.

"Calm down, I was only joking. Ready to go, you have meditations to get to and I have a meeting to get to." Naruto turned to Emika. "There is a standard once month leniency period for payment so there's no hurry to pay for the job. Alright guys lets go home!" Naruto called earning shouts of approval from all of them. Naruto chuckled at their eagerness to get home, mildly thinking about how his upcoming meeting with the summoning bosses was going to go. Mentally sending the command to the arch to activate Naruto's thoughts floated aimlessly as he travelled dimensions, centering around his red head pregnant partner.

* * *

Kazumi gazed out the window of her current residence that looked out upon the magnificent ice glaciers in the distance and sighed with content.

'They will never find me here and there is nothing that they or anyone else can do about us even if we're found. I am one of the Reikage's most trusted advisers and teacher's; to act against me would be nothing short of a declaration of war which they wouldn't survive.' Kazumi thought idly. She brushed a few strands of her pale hair away from her face and frowned slightly. Besides Naruto who she surmised knew about her secret through his massive level of Intel gathering flies around the continent she had been harboring a secret of epic proportions. She was among three people to have a mutated version of their original kekai genkai that had originated from the Land of Fire from a clan that came from Konoha's inner streets. Kazumi briefly wondered just how much of a shock it would be for the Third Hokage and the Konoha Clan council to find out that the successors of the Kurama clan existed still. She briefly wondered about the family that she left behind when she, Rei's mother and Rei herself fled the Land of Fire when Rei was only just born. They changed their names from Kurama to Shioha to establish a divergence between the Kurama clan's bloodline and the mutated traits of the dubbed Clear Eye. She was drawn out of her musings when there was a knock on her door.

"Sensei everyone here is very anxious to under go their meditation exercises." Naruto's voice sounded from the other side of her lodgings door. Going to the door and opening it she noticed that her current disciples were all grumbling at the concept.

"All right children lets get to it, off to the training grounds we go." Kazumi called while leaving her home towards the mentioned training field.

"Now that they have begun their mental trainings for the day I can prepare for that meeting. Time to get to work." Naruto said before vanishing into the winds breeze.

* * *

Weeks later

"…Shouldn't have just up and gone like that but the Great Ox said that the best thing for us to do would be to follow Naruto's direction, now that I know what's out there I understand why he's done what he has, it still doesn't weigh well on my mind though, they could have become great some of the greatest swordsman to exist in this era but because I left Cloud and became a missing ninja they will suffer for it. I wish I could have brought them with me…" Kirabi muttered only getting the slightest of nods from Fu.

"It must weigh on you a lot."

"Well I took them on as my students meaning that I was from then on responsible for their actions, how am I supposed to fulfill that duty now?"

"We can go back and get them Kirabi; you need not be stuck with this feeling of regret." A third voice sounded from a near distance. Fu and Kirabi turned their heads sharply at the sound of the voice but calmed down as Naruto's form appeared out of thin air right in front of them. Fu and Kirabi who were propped up against a few boulders placed in the dirt here and there.

"What brings you here Naruto?" Fu asked cutting off what she knew was going to be a horrid rhyme from Kirabi.

"Your presence is required at a meeting that is being held elsewhere in the summoning realm as are the

other containers." This info drew their attention immediately.

"What kind of meeting?" Kirabi asked skeptically.

"This small section of this realm that I have claimed is one of a great many sections. This meeting is to introduce ourselves as the new players on the block, to establish alliances with the species of summon that reside here with us. You with me so far?" Kirabi and Fu slowly nodded.

"I was able to strike up a non aggression pact with the summons surrounding the immediate area. I need to show them all the cards in my hand to indicate that I and those under my command mean them no harm or ill intent. Besides, there is no telling exactly if and when we might need their help for whatever reason, so I'm just covering all the bases in case something really big that I was unaware of happens."

"What do you really want out of this meeting though?" Kirabi asked shrewdly.

"I'd like an agreement with the three most prominent summons to steer clear of my ninja forces should they ever meet, I am no fool to think any of the initiates or adepts stand a chance against any of the large summons, the toads and the slugs will I believe mostly agree with the terms that I present but since the Snakes have a contract with Orochimaru I'm not leaving anything to chance. Who knows, maybe with our presence here we could stop the senseless feud that those three have been going through for the past who knows how long." Naruto said finishing up his explanation.

"Where will we need to be?" asked Fu.

"Just meet me at the arch when the times comes; I'll take care of the rest. Now I have to find the other four to fill them in on what's happening. The meeting itself isn't for a few more weeks so get ready." Naruto said disappearing into a haze of smoke.

* * *

"This is kind of creepy…" Asuma Sarutobi drawled as they neared the edge of the mainland whose bridge spanned out towards the vast many islands out into the land of water, a heavy mist visible in the distance.

"Oh suck it up you walking tar sack."

"Now now, lets not all riled up."

"But don't you think that its kind of scary that one man's presence for one day settled a civil war that had been going on for years, a character like that with so much power…it's a very scary thought what they might do…" the bearded man shivered.

"I would have thought that you of all people would be able to see beyond these stories Asuma."

"Cyclops is right Tar Sack, the act is probably wildly exaggerated, it's most likely some punk who just got lucky trying to make a name for him or herself."

"They say it's the same guy that caused the Red Rain incident years ago with the freaky powers to use your own jutsu against you."

"Asuma just shut up will you, you're letting the words on the winds get to your head, and you're starting to sound like a paranoid nutter...like the guys in my play pen when I'm through with them." Anko said sharply cutting him off before he could say anymore. "Lets just get on with this mission; the sooner it's done the faster I can get back to eating my red bean soup and dango."

"Alright fine I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same guy." Asuma said bringing his hands up for the surrender when the other two jounin sent him a look. However as they continued their journey Anko couldn't help but ponder on Asuma's words.

'Repel one's own jutsu back at them…can it be that guy in the mask all that time ago? I wonder…'

* * *

Naruto stood in front of his assembled friends. "Ok guys here's the deal, there's a summoning meeting that's going to be held soon with all the leaders of pretty much every summon in existence except a few that I wasn't able to convince. They have extended an invitation for us to attend so that we may formally introduce ourselves and explain our presence. We are all to attend as a show of good faith that we mean them and their families no harm, and if things go well we might be able to broker a deal with them in the future."

"What kind of deal are you thinking of Naruto?" Fu asked curiously.

"I wish that the younger summons be bonded to one initiate each of their own choosing. This will not only increase relations with our neighbors of this realm but it will also give the initiates someone to confide in when times of trouble arise and there is no one else for them to turn to." Naruto explained gaining some intrigued glances from everyone present.

"Where is this summit being held?" Kai asked.

"Because of the amount of large summons that are said to come to the summit and the needs of so many are hard to accommodate the location hasn't been decided as of yet." Naruto said.

"There's something else isn't there, there'd be no point in gathering us all just to tell us that. What are you not telling us?" Kirabi asked earning a smile from Naruto.

"You're not the brother of a Kage for nothing…yes there is something else. All current tailed demons are to appear at the summit as well; you will have to find out a way for your tenants to appear, we cannot come across as withholding information that might be potentially dangerous or threatening to the summons."

"But several of us can't do what you ask." Fu said sullenly.

"Which is why I've brought it up now so that you may find a way to do so, this meeting is paramount to this villages future."

"Speaking of, what's the rate of recruits for your Initiate Training Center?" Kirabi said suddenly causing a few heads to turn back to Naruto then to Kirabi and back to Naruto.

"Quite well, there are a few more people willing to partake in the training then the last recruiting drive I was on. Almost 65 percent of the village's children and adolescence and a handful of adults are now undergoing preliminary training in a sanctioned location in the human realm in the village."

"I'm not all that surprised at the turnout given that you minced words so well," Fu said dryly. Yugito eyed Naruto wearily.

"What's this talk about recruits, why haven't Gaara, Kai or I been informed of this?"

"I would have told you in the coming days, I felt it necessary to not say anything because the three of you have had a hard time as of late with the tasks assigned to you. What Fu is referring to is an address that I held a month or so ago in the human realm to the village's occupants; stating that while initiate training is not compulsory, as in most cases in history those that don't live by the sword can still die from it. Essentially, even if they don't have any training they can still be killed by a ninja's hands, innocent or not. I am above conscripting civilians into something they don't wish to do; ultimately I've left the choice up to them."

"That was a very logical and well thought out plan Naruto, the human realm is a very savage place in some parts and deep down everyone in this village knows that, which is why they're living in such remote area like this," Kai noted with a single nod.

"Back to the meeting, it shouldn't take too long, perhaps a month before we receive any work from any of the summons the gears for this summit were put in motion the moment I punched a hole in this dimension months ago. Now that that's done I think a have a few trainees to pick up."

* * *

Weeks later

Kankuro was currently fidgeting in the training; he was supposed to be centering his mind so that when his Seal matured he would have a stronger connection with it, as he'd know that exactly to focus on when he wanted to access the power of the seal. He was slightly bummed at the concept of the training that Naruto had made mandatory to be done thrice a day. He was to find his chakra and lose himself within its natural flow, Naruto said it was so that he would be able to adapt to the changes his chakra pathways were undergoing, and to not do this would result in potentially problematic blockages in his chakra system. Naruto told him that by the time his seal had matured; his pathways would expand and grow till they eventually fused into one single pathway or chakra point. The end result was, Naruto said, to allow the accessibility and usage of chakra to be instantaneous and work to the seal bearers will alone without effort.

He had broken off from the rest of the trainees for a more secluded spot in the dojo, his agitated state being a distraction in the Quiet Room as Kankuro had dubbed it, for its silent nature as no one was to speak inside it for the kind of training that was held there. Kankuro mused for a moment; there were different rooms housed within the dojo, one for each area of training that every Initiate hopeful had to undergo before Naruto bestowed upon them the Spirit seal; there was a room for illusion training, stealth, weapons, dancing and evasion, the meditation room AKA the quiet room and the smashing room to which a person can enter and relieve stress and other related feelings by smashing a whole lot of self repairing objects however a person liked. Kankuro had little reservations to state that the last room was his favorite, between his three daily doses of having to sit still and focus within himself and feeling like an absolute fool while he practiced dancing maneuvers it was the only time he got, once a day in the evening before heading to bed, to relieve the stress of the day.

"Getting distracted are we, Kankuro?" someone said above him making Kankuro jump up in surprise. Kankuro hurriedly composed himself when he realized who it was that startled him.

"Lord Reikage," Kankuro said; bowing his head out of habit from when he lived in the Hidden Sand. After the ITC had its formal opening Naruto was dubbed the Leader, the seld proclaimed Reikage.

"Kankuro…how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" The chakra entity reproached.

"Sorry Lord Reikage, force of habit."

"There is nothing to feel sorry for Kankuro, I know that these lessons are getting on your nerves and you need a little bit of alone time to relax. This particular type of training was not what you expected to undergo when you were in Sand, and by bearing that seal you have dashed all hope for that dream you dreamt of since you were a small boy…well, smaller than you are now," Naruto said with a chuckle.

Kankuro eyed his leader. "How do you know about that? I've told only Temari when the 4th Kazekage came into power."

"Gaara told me; he told me he was amazed at the kind of things people say in their sleep to which you are no exception," Naruto said with a laugh. Kankuro blushed slightly at the possible things that his younger brother had told Naruto before shaking his head to clear those thoughts.

"I mean no disrespect Lord Reikage but…what are you doing here? Surely you have more important things to tend to than making conversation with me," Kankuro asked.

"While it is true there are certain things that need to be done before the sun sets, what I have come to you for is just as important."

"Really?"

"Really. Since I placed that seal on you, the puppetry branch of techniques you dreamed of learning were lost to you. I have an alternative solution so that you may, in a sense, still chase that dream of yours. Are you interested?" Naruto asked casually as if discussing the weather. Kankuro was dumbstruck. For as long as he could remember, he had wanted to be a master puppeteer ninja and ever since he'd learned that the standard way of molding chakra would be lost to him, he was crestfallen.

"While you cannot use chakra the way you used to, to create strings to control puppets I will teach you a technique to create stringless chakra puppets, I've dubbed them Creation Techniques. The creations you mold with your chakra will respond to your thoughts rather than chakra strings; a far more effective means of control if you ask me," Naruto turned his palm to the ground. "Creation Art: Earthen Worm." A dim blue light flashed briefly before a blue water like creature _fell_ from his hand. It was a foot long worm which had a light blue glow.

"This small worm may seem like a useless thing, would you agree?"

"With all due respect sir, when it comes to you and the abilities you can do I've come to a realization that with you anything is possible, and I know you're not limited to worms, so that's an added bonus."

"Good answer. Now to learn this you need to learn both mental discipline and extreme multitasking."

"I want to learn this." Kankuro said; determination clear in his voice, Naruto was offering a way for him to pursue his dream; though it was slightly altered Kankuro wasn't about to let this chance go.

"Very well, we'll start this time tomorrow. Get some rest…you'll need it."

"Thank you very much sir."

"Think nothing of it Kankuro, I'm just trying to help you the best I can. When your seal matures, you'll be better off having made this choice. If you hadn't taken up a specialty soon, it'd be harder for you to learn it when your seal matures."

"Why is that sir?"

"You'll have more chakra, and the more chakra you have; the harder it will be to control it in a new way. Do you understand?" Naruto queried.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Kankuro said bowing his head again. Naruto shook his head.

"Again, think nothing of it Kankuro. Now I have a few more Initiates to talk to so I'll let you get to your rest." Naruto said before blowing away in an invisible wind in a mass of black smoke. Kankuro looked into space, a far away look in his eyes.

'Creation techniques…awesome…'

* * *

Shortly after Kankuro had departed from the meditation dojo, Kazumi had called an end to the session and the group of 25 hopefuls departed; Kazumi giving them a few hours of recreational time to themselves for the day. Temari on the other hand had stayed in the Quiet room, thinking.

'We've had to sacrifice so much, first dad went off the deep end, mum dying in childbirth, Gaara being the container of the sand spirit, leaving our home for Gaara never to return…it's just not fair,' She mentally wailed. Her eyes were starting to tear up.

'My family was destroyed and Kankuro and I will never get what we wanted, Kankuro will never get to be a puppeteer ninja and I'll never be a master Wind user,' She thought; a sudden sob escaping her throat, the sound echoing throughout the empty room. As if a dam had just broken Temari felt herself succumb to a fit of crying, a whole lot of buried emotions rising to the surface. From the moment her dad had told her and Kankuro that their mother had died, Temari had been thrust into a caretaker's role for her brothers and herself; forcing her to put up a strong front. She reasoned that she couldn't be seen as weak, for her own sake as well as her brothers, her father would not allow such a thing, so Temari had bottled up and stored all of her emotions deep within herself where she hoped they'd stay. Her body was shaking violently as she let all the stored feelings out into the open, years of suppressed emotions pouring out into the vacant training area. After who knows how long, Temari's crying started to dry up, the only evidence to her actions a tiny puddle of tears on the floor and her puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Do you feel better now Temari?" Someone said making Temari jump up in surprise and turn towards the voice's location so fast her actions were a blur.

"L-Lord Reikage! What-what are you doing h-here?" Temari stammered, having been caught out in her moment of weakness. Naruto who had removed his hood and mask, then gave her a sad smile.

"Checking up on my subordinates. Do you feel better now?" Naruto prompted again. Temari gave him a blank stare.

"You've had to sacrifice too much in your short life to bring up your brothers, haven't you Temari?" Naruto asked.

"I had to… Dad wouldn't do it, so I did what I felt that I had to, damn the cost." Temari confessed.

Naruto nodded, "You felt that you couldn't afford to show weakness, for your brothers' sake so you hid everything…if I were in your position I would do the same thing," Naruto revealed. Temari starred at her leader wide eyed.

"When I lived within the walls of the Hidden Leaf village I was viewed as less than vermin, I was a plague amongst the people that many thought needed to be stamped out. I could feel their animosity so I hid all of my sadness and threw up a façade, a mask to protect myself. The only problem with that idea is what you just realized…you can't hold it back forever, those feelings you've locked away will escape one day. For you, today was that day." Naruto stated.

"What are you doing here then, sir?" Temari asked perplexed, momentarily forgetting that the person in front of her was the cause of her shattered dreams.

"I've come to offer you something, are you willing to hear me out?"

"What kind of offer?" Temari asked curtly.

"I know how powerful some of the Hidden Sand's ninja have become wielding the Wind Element. Gaara recently revealed to me you and your younger brother's fondest dreams… You wanted to be a master wind manipulator, and Kankuro wanted to be a master puppeteer like Sasori of the Red Sands; the only Sand shinobi to reach S rank status in the Bingo book," Naruto said calmly. Hearing this Temari was reminded of her and her brothers shattered dreams and lost it.

"It's your fault that we can't ever become what we wanted, you and Gaara's fault! If he hadn't been born we wouldn't be in the position we're in now!" she shouted hysterically.

"Is that really how you feel Temari?" the familiar sound of her youngest brothers gravelly voice penetrated the air to her eardrums making Temari go wide eyed at what she just said. Turning her head at breakneck speeds she caught a glimpse of her red head sibling at the entrance to the Quiet room, just before he disappeared in a whirl of sand.

'If he hadn't been born we wouldn't be in the position we're in now!' the words hung around her head repeating themselves again and again as she came to terms with what she had just said.

'..Ari. TEMARI! Snap out of it!" Naruto's voice broke through her mantra.

"…" Temari couldn't speak as she eyed the door that Gaara was standing at moments before.

"I think you should go find him, he looked very hurt by what you said. When you're done with that I'll tell you what I was going to propose but I think that you finding Gaara is more important," Naruto said firmly. Temari stood stock still.

"NOW GIRL!" Naruto yelled prompting Temari into action. Temari didn't even hear Naruto's parting words as she raced out of the training center. Naruto sighed ruefully as his mask and hood materialized in a haze of inky black.

'I hope she finds him; those three have been dealt a really hard hand,' he thought; shaking his head slightly. "That could take a while though… I better find the rest of those kids not to mention my own little daughter…but Temari might get hurt so I should watch out for her, just in case,' Naruto thought as he created a few small flies to track down the other initiates before disappearing himself, intent on making sure that Temari didn't die.

* * *

It wasn't hard for Temari to find Gaara. He was on one of the abandoned training fields, golden sand grains everywhere tearing up the dirt.

'It wasn't hard to find Gaara,' Temari thought sadly. 'It' getting close enough to talk to him…' she eyed the wide area of destroyed training field warily, she had little doubt that the sand laying on the ground would react to her presence if she got too close to it so she closed her eyes and concentrated, she'd need all her skills gained in the dancing classes to pull this off.

'As quick as a bird, As light as a feather…' she said several times to herself before she shot towards the center of the sand dune. As she predicted the sand jetted towards her location, Temari pirouetted before leaping away from the mass of sand, said sand smashing into her previous location making the sound of a detonating bomb. She leaped once again to a blank patch of dirt landing on her hands but was quick to push off to complete her flip as she saw nearby sand closing in on her. Temari at her current distance could see Gaara sitting with his knees in the dirt, sand surrounding all but his head as if it were trying to comfort him as his ringed eyes leaked clear fluid. Pushing off her hands to spring forward further she landed on her legs a little too solidly making her face contort with a wince as pain surged through her feet up her legs.

'That's going to hurt later.' She thought idly as she moved on again, pain or no pain she was going to apologize to her little brother. She leaked a bit of chakra to her palms from her seal as she jumped to perform yet another flip, her hands touching the warm grains of sand briefly before sending the gathered chakra outward into the ground blowing the sand away from her in a quick burst. Being struck with an idea, she charged her hands and feet with chakra with the intent to do the same thing again throwing glances around to see where she was. Planning out her moves she performed a series of cartwheels and flips to get within earshot of the crying red head.

"Gaara!" she cried out. The mass of sand chasing her froze in mid air as the red head opened his eyes, blinking a few times to clear his tears before looking at her.

"…Please just go away Temari…I don't want to hear anymore about how I ruined your life…" sniffed out Gaara. The sand around them shifted slowly under Gaara's command, quickly creating a sand wall between himself and Temari.

"No Gaara! I'm sorry!" the sand continued to move him away from her blocking her from him. "I'm so sorry Gaara, I didn't mean to say that, I'm so… so very sorry. You didn't ruin my life Gaara, Dad did! After mum died giving birth to you I hated him for doing what he did to the three of us. You have to believe me little brother; I didn't mean what I said!" she cried, sorrowful tears now running down her face.

"It hurt so bad before, when you were so cold to Kankuro and me, we were so happy when we found out what Naruto had done for you and the sand spirit…I had my little brother back for the first time in too long, I don't want to lose you again. I don't care if you believe me or not Gaara but you're my little brother and I love you, I beg you to forgive me I don't want to lose you like last time…" Temari cried, her eyes screwed shut through her tears.

'She really does care…' Gaara thought as Temari's words digested in his mind.

'Of course she cares you idiot, she's your family! You might have fights and you may argue but in the end you'll always be her younger brother and there's nothing anyone can do to change that. Can you hear her out there; she's spilling her heart out to you and you're not saying a word back. Answer her, NOW!' Shukaku ordered his container. Gaara blinked his ringed eyes before deciding what he was going to do.

Temari cringed when she felt the sand around her cocoon her body from the neck down and waited for the inevitable. She waited and waited till she felt something against her neck. Cracking her eyes open a tiny bit her eyes fell onto the sight of a mass of red hair.

"Thank you Temari." It was Gaara, she realized; her little brother was hugging her, from within the sand.

Instinctively, Temari moved to embrace her brother, her actions meeting no resistance from the entrapping sand making Temari even happier. Temari smiled to herself as she turned her gaze skyward towards the blue sky above.

'We're going to be alright from now on mom; we're going to be a family again.' She thought with joy.

* * *

Naruto watched on a little hesitantly at the scene in front of him. He felt a little guilty seeing this very intimate moment between the two siblings as well as a little jealous.

'**Jealousy doesn't become you Naruto, jus****t be happy with what you've got,'** Hitomi's voice floated through his mind. Naruto sighed.

'Yeah I know, I am happy for them, it's just that I've never had anything like that in my life when I was in the Leaf village…it brings back some harsh memories for me is all,' Naruto commented sadly.

'**Cheer up Naruto, your life wasn't all bad there; you learned all the essential survival skills to stay alive and you're a lot smarter having been through what other****s have not. I know you feel happy for Gaara and Temari because you can see that they appreciate what they have, something that you will go on to teach others.'**

'You are right, as usual. Well with this domestic quarrel settled I have a few other people to talk to today before the day is over.'

'**How many others left?'** Hitomi asked curiously.

'Two. Isaribi and Hanabi. In a month's time there'll be a few more but right now it's just these three,' Naruto answered.

'**Are you ready to make good on your promise to that poor girl?'** Hitomi inquired.

'As soon as the Meeting of the Summon is over and the details settled that will be the first thing on my To-do list to complete.'

'**Good, we need to show a good example for your underlings to boost morale.'**

'I might bring them with me when I leave to retrieve that woman, as insurance in case she decides to be stubborn. If she flat out refuses to fulfill one of my father's last wishes then I'm not going to be a very happy chakra entity.'

'**That would go against everything you structured this village on****, wouldn't it? Your promises are law; never turn your back on your family, and do everything in your power to protect which is most precious to you. Isn't that right?'**

'That's right, I know that she's practically a princess from her home village, and I'm not too keen on bringing up her history with them up but god help her, if she refuses I'll drag her back kicking and screaming if I have to.'

'**I know you will; you're stubborn that way****,' **Hitomi giggled.

Naruto rolled his eyes. 'God's a woman! I know it, only a female would be able to think of something so cruel as to have a pregnant woman in my mind and soul. She's punishing me for something (aside from all the murders I've committed in my life).' He floated in the air a moment. 'Well enough of doing nothing, I've got some initiates to find.' With that thought in mind, Naruto soundlessly vanished in a black haze.

* * *

Rei was out in the outside training yard in front of the training dojo; the various posts surrounding her were flickering and warping into different shapes momentarily before changing back to their original state. Rei heaved a sigh; it was so hard to keep up her exercises considering the amount of chakra that she had available.

"You don't get anywhere by giving up," Naruto's voice filtered in her ears.

"Lord Reikage!"

"Hai. If you have some time I'd like for you to come with me, I'd like to have a little conversation with you and your grandmother. I can see you're quite fatigued after today's various training exercises."

"A break would be nice Lord Reikage," Rei said getting up from the dirt covered ground and following her leader inside her families living quarters. Naruto suddenly paused.

"Something has just come up, I'll be back shortly to have our talk with your grandma, go inside and wait." Naruto said quickly before vanishing in a black haze leaving Rei to wonder what it was that called Naruto away so quickly.

* * *

"Come on boy, we're almost there." A Mist ninja said calmly to a grey haired preteen as they trekked towards The Spirit Village that Zabuza had said was located here on this island.

"Will I finally find a purpose?"

"You'll find your own purpose, what that purpose is, is up to you to decide." Naruto said appearing in a plume of smoke. The mist ninja accompanying the younger male jumped slightly at Naruto's sudden appearance gaining a light laugh from the chakra entity as bone fragments flew through him.

"Calm yourself mist ninja, there's no need to be so edgy."

"Lord Reikage! I apologize for this sudden appearance but due to certain reconstruction efforts in the village we couldn't send advanced warning of our arrival."

"This is fine, what can I do for you?"

"This boy was found a little while ago after our cleanup of the damage from the war with the previous Mizukage. He was found in an abandoned complex locked in a cage. We later identified him as a Kaguya, the last of his entire clan."

"…right, and you're here because…?"

"The Kaguya clan were butchers on the battlefield, we cannot deal with having one within Mist, the newly elected Mizukage has requested that you integrate him within yours as you would be far better equipped to handle him."

"Kaguya huh…?" Naruto threw the name around in his head a moment before turning to the preteen in question.

"What is your name?" he asked indicating towards the Kaguya.

"Aside from boy and tool I was called Kimimaro." Naruto gazed briefly at the mist ninja.

"You can go now mist ninja; give my regards to Eyebrowless and the new Mizukage. Kimimaro, come with me." Naruto said gesturing Kimimaro to follow him.

"Yes sir." Kimimaro drawled out as he followed the darkly dressed Kage.

'A Kaguya, a seemingly nonviolent one… What are the odds of that happening…?' Naruto mused silently.

'**Cons****idering that this Kaguya was locked up for most of his life, I doubt the bloodlust was able to settle into him like his other clansmen… you are extremely lucky.**' Hitomi voiced her opinion.

"You're the Reikage?" Kimimaro asked, pausing Naruto's mental drabbles.

"I am the one and the same; I am the leader of the village just ahead of you. This will be your new home Kimimaro. You will be checked for ailments and then assigned living quarters with the other initiates."

"Initiates?"

"It is what I call my beginning ninja; some will train to become master infiltrators, some experts in grand larceny. What do you want in life Kimimaro?"

"I want peace Lord Reikage."

"That, I think Kimimaro, is what everyone wants; in one form or another. Some wish for peace by submission of others, others by diplomacy and negotiation. I myself am a mix of both. I realize that not everyone can be won over with passive words and seek conflict; these people need to be dealt with in the harshest way. Though I resign myself to the reality that both are needed, I prefer a peaceful relation in place of annihilation," Naruto said as they neared the front of the village and the gargantuan arch. Kimimaro looked on in awe at the craftsmanship of said arch as he neared it; it was a shining midnight black with tiny red markings threaded throughout its entirety.

"Understand this Kimimaro because this is very important, my village it setup very differently from that in which you would be used to. The village in front of me is home to civilians and non military, those beginning their training do jobs here by request of the civilian village's chief."

"Where do your ninja live then Lord Reikage?" the grey haired boy asked. At the end of his question the arch in front of him lit up, throwing a completely different image in front of the one he just saw.

"This arch is a gateway to a parallel realm beside our own. This realm is where the summoning animals reside. I brokered a temporary peace between the summons and those under my command for this small space within their world; only those within my military are granted access to this plane, those without cannot pass into it unless given express permission by me." An arm sprouted from Naruto's side.

"Take my hand and squeeze hard." The teen complied and took the offered hand. He gasped when a small circular seal appeared on his wrist.

"This is a temporary pass to allow you entry into the Hidden Spirit village; though it will only work when the arch is activated, when it isn't you will not be granted access. Those who have passed the initial training within the village's dojo are the ones that have the ability to activate the arch aside from myself. Now let us see to your settling in, I'm sure you'll fit in just fine and I'm pretty sure Temari and Kankuro will be pleased to finally have someone around their own age to talk to," Naruto said as he walked Kimimaro through the arch and into the Hidden Spirit, the arch deactivating the second the two had cleared its threshold.

* * *

"Once more!" she yelled fiercely. Her opponent charged in fast; throwing a hard right hook, which she effortlessly dodged before slamming her own right into her opponent's side. The blow sent her opponent to the ground in a painful wheezing.

"You are a disgrace; with your current skills I can't gauge my own to seek improvement. You can't learn anything from failing each and every time moron; I thought that's why we said we'd do this…no more! I've obviously grown so far in strength that you can't possibly keep up, thus making you useless. Never come back here again, I've wasted enough time on you as it is. Leave, now!" By this time, her training partner had pulled himself out of the dirt and began to glare hatefully at her. Her eyes narrowed in disgust.

"I said," she spat advancing on her opponents slightly teetering form. "LEAVE!" she growled bashing her palm into her opponent's chest, an almost fatal Gentle fist palm strike blasting the recipient 10 feet away. The body hit the ground and rolled a short distance before stilling. Hinata huffed irritably.

"You better be up and out of my personal training grounds by the time I'm back with a new partner, Uchiha, or I'll try the new clan technique I've just learnt on you," Hinata hissed; spitting on the grown in front of Sasuke before turning towards a nearby door into the Hyuuga estate and vanishing inside. Sasuke's black hair mixed with the dirt it was laying in, trembling with movement as the lone Uchiha attempted to rise from his humiliating position. Mustering enough energy to will his body to move Sasuke clawed his way to a training stump and used it to raise himself from the ground. Sasuke's Caucasian complexion was a pellet of different colors, red liquid seeped from the corner of his mouth; running over the mass of black and blue tinged skin the colors distorting with the patches of dirt that had been soaked into his running blood. Casting a slightly fearful look in the direction that Hinata had left in, his face went murderous for a split second before almost instantly shifting into neutral, his entire face throbbed with every move and facial expressions hurt like hell to make at the moment.

'…That bitch is going to pay for this humiliation…some day. I better get the hell out of here before she comes back; she's fucking crazy. I do not envy the next training dummy she finds,' Sasuke Uchiha thought as he slowly and carefully limped out of the Hyuuga estate training grounds; the only evidence suggesting he had been there at all was the various small puddles of red liquid littered throughout the grounds. He barely made it out of the estate when he heard the door Hinata had left in open again.

"Neji from now on you will be my training partner as my other one has…become useless." He heard her say in the Hyuuga's famed arrogant tone. Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger, the only thing he could do without causing excruciating pain, he would show her, he would show everyone that no one beat Sasuke Uchiha and got away lightly.

* * *

Kimimaro looked around in awe at his surroundings, after stepping through the archway Kimimaro found himself standing in the middle of a massive field for about 50 feet in radius. He spied buildings in the front of the arch in the not too far distance and clear land to the back of him, where he could see a number of people doing various exercises.

"You have two choices here right now Kimimaro, you can stay here and enlist in my ninja program to protect this village and its ideals or you can take up residence with the civilians," Naruto paused and 'tugged' on one of his ninja's seals. "For security reasons I can't have you roaming around the village freely, so I've called one of my ninja to look after you and answer your questions should you have any -within reason of course," Naruto said cutting into Kimimaro's thoughts, a ninja appearing an instant later.

"Kai show Kimimaro around and answer his questions as long as they are reasonable. I have an appointment with the Shioha females I must not be late to." He was about to leave but paused. "Oh and introduce him to Gaara's siblings if you can find them, I'm sure they'll be happy to see a new face." With those words spoken Naruto vanished.

* * *

Kazumi sat within her living quarters with her granddaughter waiting for Naruto to get back. She looked around her accommodation gazing at the few decorations that donned the room: a picture of her daughter, her granddaughter and herself before they went on the run. There was also an ornamental mask hanging on the wall opposite the kitchen, intricate markings covering its red polished surface. There was a knock at the door, jolting her from her thoughts.

"I'll get it." Rei said as she raced to the door. The pale haired girl whipped the door open to reveal Naruto standing there with a teenage red head with a white tee-shirt and grey shorts, a cap adorned on her head.

"Sorry I'm late; I had to pick up this wonderful red head." Naruto said happily nudging the said red head who grumbled a few things under her breathe. Kazumi by this time had ventured from the living room to the front door to see her gests inside.

"Don't be rude Rei dear, welcome our guests inside." Kazumi teased making the mentioned girl go a tinge pink. Rei led Naruto and the red head girl to the living room as Kazumi went to the kitchen to fetch a few refreshments. After everyone was seated Naruto withdrew from within himself a stone with intricate red seals decorated on its black surface and set in on the table in front of him.

"Now what's so important that you needed a Privacy sphere to tell me Naruto?" Kazumi asked once the sphere's glow dimmed.

"There are certain places on this continent where my usual method of gathering information is limited. For the past few weeks I've devised a plan to implant a spy within one of our enemies ninja force but I need a few questions answered before I sign off on this."

"Ask away."

"Can you layer an Illusion Shell on a person to act as a second skin to a person to change their appearance height and size?"

"That has been done before but the transformation is limited to only a few hours." Answered Kazumi.

"Is the illusion temporary because it runs out of chakra to maintain?" Kazumi nodded yes.

"The caster of the illusion needs to be nearby for the illusion to be maintained."

"If you were to cast such an illusion could I seal the transformation for it to be maintained as long as the seal is in place on the participant?"

Kazumi hummed in thought for a moment. Finally, she replied, "Theoretically it is possible. The seal mentioned should need to be tied to the recipient's chakra system for it to work until the seal maintaining the illusion is released. When the illusion is released all markings and ailments sustained to the person under the illusion when the illusion is in place should vanish unless the ailment is death."

"As I thought, how long would it take to set up such an illusion?"

"The last time such a feat was undertaken it had taken just under 3 and a half hours. Due to my experience and maybe with the assistance of one other such an action should take under 3 hours."

"Can you cast the illusion with a personality different to the one already in place? Should the person under the illusion be interrogated all this work would be for naught."

"It is possible, but then the person under the illusion would have no control over what he or she does whilst under the illusion as the programmed personality would be dominant. The suppressed personality would be independent to think on its own but won't be able to act on those thoughts. In short, the person under the illusion would be a prisoner within their own body until the illusion cast upon them is undone and if there was a seal in place to maintain the illusion the only thing that could undo the illusion would be to break the seal in charge of holding it together." Naruto nodded approvingly before turning to the red head next to him, who gave a slow nod.

"Very well then, Sensei, come to my sealing chambers within my office with the necessary materials, you will cast the illusion you've been talking about on this redhead, she will be our covert op. within one of our enemies ninja ranks. Bring Rei with you to assist in holding the illusion after you are finished with the casting while I prepare the sealing of the illusion to Tayuya here. Thank you for your time… be at my office in three hours and send a messenger if you can't make that time; I have somewhere I need to be right now," Naruto said getting up from his seat and heading towards the front door before vanishing.

"Always so busy…" Kazumi said shaking her head before turning to Tayuya. "Tell me, how did you get chosen for this assignment?"

* * *

"We reside within the world of the summons and we remain here because they have allowed us to, to remain within this realm there are strict laws in place when dealing with the summons; Lord Reikage is the figurehead of this entire village and any ill deed will result in repercussions not for us but for him as he takes responsibility for everything we do here. In our immediate radius there reside the summoning clans of the penguins amongst the glaciers to the south, in the far west is a mountain where the toads reside, towards the east there is a desert, past there reside the slug species and even further off are the snakes. Other species such as the apes and raccoons reside within the forests in the east. There is also a time difference from here to the human realm; a day here is 36 hours long as opposed to 24 hours in the human realm. Every new recruit has at least one psychotic episode when they start their training," Kai said pointing in various directions. "Of all of the buildings on the south end of the village most of them are empty residential apartment buildings, due to the space available to us we cannot afford to have big houses or compounds as it would be unfair to others. Even the Reikage's family lives in one of those apartments; as do the other tailed ninja."

"I'm sorry, the Tailed ninja?" Kimimaro asked bewildered.

"When Kai says tailed ninja he's referring to eight people, myself included, that house within them one of the nine legendary tailed beasts, I hold the nine tailed fox, Kai holds the three tailed turtle. The other seven within the village are like my generals; the last host has yet to be located," Naruto said suddenly appearing in a black haze. Kai only turned to Naruto's direction and gave a short bow in respect. Kimimaro on the other hand jumped three feet in the air (because ten feet is just unrealistic). Landing on his bum, Kimimaro shuffled backwards away from the two hosts. Noticing the obvious fear Naruto sighed.

"Kimimaro, the tailed demons and their hosts respectively are not evil, when unprovoked they are quite benevolent beings, half the reason I created this village was to protect the tailed beasts."

"Protect them?! They're monsters; they don't need protecting they need to be destroyed!" the words left Kimimaro's moth before he could even register his mouth moving. Naruto shook his head sadly.

"The tailed beasts DO need protecting, there is a criminal organization that seeks the acquisition of the tailed beasts to conquer the world and all its people; the ONLY reason they are looked upon as monsters is because of how they look and how people act towards them because of how they look. They act how they act because no one will let them act differently." A moment later, Naruto's visage shimmered. A moment later, the black cloak and armor changed into a black kimono with red trimmings, a sizable bump at the abdomen. Kimimaro after getting over the shock of the massive physical change in front of him looked to the new face, a slim cream colored face, with waist length fiery red hair and three whisker mark streaks on each of her cheeks, her eyes a bright sapphire red with a black vertical slit.

"Who….What….?" Kimimaro stammered totally lost for words.

**"Hello Kaguya…I am the nine tailed fox,"** Hitomi said calmly. A shaky finger pointed at her.

"You… you're…you're-" Kimimaro stammered again.

**"I am a pregnant female, getting over it now would be better for your health,"** Hitomi said very cheerfully.

"…" a bone shot from the Kaguya's pointing finger straight at Hitomi, a red tail snapping into existence in front of the bone bullet. Realizing what he had just done Kimimaro's face went ashen; all the blood in his face draining from is already pale face. Kimimaro huddled himself into the fetal position and started rocking back and forwards. The white haired teen froze when he felt the gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder.

**"You can't control it very well, can you Kimimaro? Your bloodline is still very new to you isn't it?"** Hitomi's soft voice filtered through his ears.

"I'm sorry! Don't eat me!"

**"I'm not going to eat you Kimimaro, I don't eat people...even if it looks like I just did,"** Hitomi chuckled lightly patting her baby bump. A lump sprouted from her shoulder, Naruto's head popping into existence, his now exposed hair jutting everywhere to his shoulders…err shoulder.

"Sorry to interrupt but there are a few things in the day left to do. Kimimaro take one of these apartments then go to the tallest building to register it as your home. You'll probably meet with the Sandman's siblings on your way over there; two of them are having a reunion of sorts so you can't miss them." Naruto's face fazed through the back of his head, the back of his head where his face was a second ago and faced Kai. "We have to find the other eight, its time." Kai nodded. Hitomi's head receded into Naruto's neck and Naruto's head moved to center. Without another word Kai and Naruto vanished in smoke.

"That…was totally wicked!"

* * *

"Kai, go round up the gang; I have a few people I have to see before we go to the meeting of the summons. They have called, so we will answer," Naruto ordered as they leaped through the air towards the Administration building of the village.

"As you wish Lord Reikage." Kai said before going their separate ways. Touching down on the ground Naruto calmed his mind and carefully washed a wave of light chakra around the village passing over all of the villages inhabitants.

'Hanabi and Isaribi…where would you two have disappeared to…' Naruto thought as he singled out the two chakra signatures he was looking for.

'They're not in the residential area…or the training grounds…ah! Found you!' Naruto thought in triumph as he vanished with a plume of smoke.

* * *

"That was amazing! Do it again!" Hanabi's voice sounded over the river as she watched Isaribi use her chakra to manipulate the water into a Water Dragon. The bandage covered girl whipped her hands upward sending the dragon skyward before releasing her control of her chakra, the compacted water falling out of its shape and bursting into water droplets. Hanabi's grin was wide as she felt the artificial rain hit her face; she loved the feeling of the rain.

"That was the last time Hanabi; I'm slightly out of breath," Isaribi called from atop the flowing river, moving towards the river bank. She did _not_ want to get swept away by the current out of the village towards the great swamps where the Slug summons resided. Getting to the shore Isaribi bowed on her knees with her head down as she regained her breathe, Hanabi walking over to the panting girl. Both girls were startled when they heard clapping coming towards them. Turning their attentions towards the sound they saw Naruto in his Kage outfit, a white wide brimmed hat with the kanji for Spirit on it with a black robe adorning his frame, meshing with his dark red shirt and pants.

"That was quite a show you put on there Isaribi, it's good to see you cutting loose and having some fun," Naruto commented making the girl smile happily at her leader. It had taken a while, but Isaribi had, after many months of being part of Naruto's village, finally opened up to the people around her and began to feel comfortable with being around others despite her outward appearance. Though she still wore her bandages she didn't rug up to hide said bandages. Instead, she displayed them, showing off her differences. When Naruto had proposed she be less conservative with her choice of clothing, he had revealed to her that it was his ideology that everyone display their difference and learn to accept them as a part of themselves to draw everyone closer.

'Judge the character not the appearance,' He had said. Isaribi was amazed at what Naruto had accomplished. He had created a safe haven for people like herself where they could live without being ostracized, and took in anyone in need of somewhere to stay with the rule that they treat everyone like they would treat themselves; the punishment for going against this law was three minutes with Kazumi Shioha. Isaribi shuddered at the stories that were whispered about those punishments. Absolutely no one was the same after experiencing those three minutes. The place where the punishment was held was inside the administration building under the Reikage's office and had been affectionately dubbed the Scream Room or the Reformation Room to any official. The village was 400 strong; just about half of the populous had been in there after just one incident of misbehavior, no warnings, no second chances. Isaribi had witnessed what happened to those that didn't comply, they were stripped of their Spirit seal and exiled from the village never to return, that had happened 5 times already.

"So what are you two doing?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'm watching Isaribi practice her water dragon for the water dragon race coming up! She's so cool!" Hanabi exclaimed jumping around with excitement. Naruto turned to Isaribi who was blushing under the received praise.

"I am getting better at commanding the dragon," Isaribi said modestly.

"You can only get better; there's always room for improvement," Naruto stated offhandedly.

"Dad, why are you here?" Hanabi asked; drawing Naruto back to the reason why he was here in the first place.

"Right, thank you for reminding me Hanabi, you both need to select a specialty for your training. I've spoken to a few people already, and their training will be altered to perfect the skills in that chosen field," Naruto paused to let this information register in their minds. "I would assume that with your circumstances Isaribi that your specialty would lean towards water manipulation to the likes of the second Hokage of the Leaf village. That is just food for thought and not a suggestion; this choice will change your life so chose it very carefully. While you can change your choice, it will be harder to learn because your chakra will be used to behaving a certain way than it is used to if you change your mind later. I know that both your chakra types are water so your options are quite limited but I will leave you to your choices. I will see you at home Hanabi, don't stay out here too long either, remember it gets dark here very quickly and the temperature changes very fast."

"We will, Lord Reikage. I'll see you tomorrow with my decision." Isaribi said. She sat in a thinking position by the river bank and began to contemplate what she should do.

"Okay dad," Hanabi said taking her father into a warm hug before turning to the residential district. "I'm going to see Rei for a while; she hardly leaves her home so I'm going to drop in. Bye dad."

* * *

Dark smoke collected itself in front of the arch taking the form of Naruto without his hood or mask. His blue eyes scanned those present and did a small count in his head, 'Gaara, Yugito, Kai, Roushi, Gobi, Fu and Bee… That's it there all here,' He thought with a nod of his head. Those gathered turned towards him, chatter dying down as the small clouds of black were sucked into Naruto's form.

"Good we're all here, now there won't be any need for a search party to find any of you. This meeting was said to be located within the domain of the Bears' Forest, as the bears are without a contract holder and are the most sensible summons to hold a meeting such as this," Naruto informed them.

"How are we getting there? It's not like we're going to walk through the entire surrounding Summons' Domain to get to the forest in question," Yugito asked curiously.

"The forest is to the north east of here several sectors away, to answer your question you'll all ride on my back. Hitomi-sensei will grant me the use of some of her power to take her tailed form," Naruto revealed.

"Alright then everyone move back a bit I'm going to need a bit or room for this." Naruto said. The other containers and Gobi did as he asked and leaped back to a safe distance as Naruto began to channel Hitomi's power.

'**Remember not too much, we don't know what it might do to my baby!'** Hitomi warned as Naruto began to change. Naruto's form began to grow in size, quickly growing taller than the erected village buildings. Naruto fell forward into his hands as his body lost its black cloak, the red of his under outfit starting to bleed out turning to a darker red. As Naruto's blonde hair receded into the red mass, two large fox ears grew from his receding blonde hair. Nine consecutive pops sounded as one tail after another sprouted from his tailbone, his hind legs crouching slightly under the weight. Standing three times the size of the tallest building in the village Naruto turned his massive fox head to the specks that were the other hosts and one demon.

"Alright everyone on!" Naruto's voice boomed though the massive fox jaw didn't move in the slightest. Naruto let one of his flowing tails go limp in front of them the seven of them not needing any other notice and climbed the offered tail. Once they were all on the middle of his back Naruto shook his body slightly before preparing to leap.

"And I thought the bull was big…" Bee muttered just as Naruto leapt away. Naruto's passengers fell flat on their faces under the force of the ascension, wind howling in their ears as they went.

"**You might want to hold onto something or you'll go flying off on th****e way down."** Naruto boomed as they reached the apex of the jump. Doing as he said they all took a lump of red fur into their grasp just as they began their descent.

"How long till we get there?" Roushi called out.

"**At this speed only a few minutes! Hold on its go****ing to get a little bumpy when we pass through the Slugs swamp."** Naruto responded as he continued on.

Within the Catacombs of the forest there was a massive clearing 4 kilometers wide with a great many beings present. The most notable were the largest ones such as the toads, slugs, snakes, various bears, many felines, bats, penguins, various bird types, dogs, salamanders and other lizards, elephants and turtles. Smaller ones throughout the area such as the primates, beavers, weasels, various insect species were also spread throughout the area.

* * *

"How much longer till this little shindig starts, everyone is beginning to get restless," The bear summon boss grumbled noting the hostile atmosphere in the area because of the snake summon boss' presence.

"Calm down Master Bear, the ones we're waiting on are due here in a few moments," The bat summon boss said calmly gaining the attention of the other bosses, the den quieting considerably after that. The area grew silent when the earth beneath them trembled. After a moment and several more increasingly large thumps, the Bat boss was hanging upside down on a tree branch with its wings wrapped around itself. Further talking was halted when a creatures shadow appeared in the middle of the clearing increasing in density. All bosses looked upwards at a gigantic fox freefalling into the clearing expecting a massive impact. They watched as a tail turned downward…joined by another eight tails. Nine tails struck the ground with a thud sending a dust cloud up unto the air. The nine tails used as springs to take the brunt of the fall folded under the pressure as the fox's four limbs softly touched the ground.

"The nine tails! How is that possible?" Gamabunta called in disbelief while taking hold of his dagger with a webbed hand.

"Stem your hand toad, it was he that issued the summons for this meeting and we all agreed, we needn't get into a fight before the new arrival reveals why he had requested this meeting, meetings such as this are very rare as you very well know," The bear Boss called quickly.

"Very well Master bear," Gamabunta muttered, relinquishing his hold on the hilt of his dagger.

"Why have you called us here?" demanded Manda.

"I request a treaty; it was I that shook this world many moons ago when I created a portal from the human realm to this one and I humbly ask for your cooperation in our occupation and not to annihilate us."

"For what reason have you done this?" the monkey boss asked.

"When I was designing the portal I had originally intended for it to be within its own distinctive realm. It was my miscalculation and lack of knowledge of how close your realm was to the human realm that resulted in our presence within your realm."

"That does not answer the question; do not waste our time by dancing around the answer," noted a boss, earning several nods of agreement from other bosses.

"My intention for such an action was to create a place where people like me who are ridiculed and hated for things outside of their control can live happy lives, without the scorn they've known amongst their own species."

"You speak in plural, who are these people you speak of?" asked the bat boss.

"Demon hosts of the nine tailed beasts, I am the container of the nine tails."

"You lie! The container of the nine tails is a human from the Hidden Leaf village."

"You are correct toad boss," The fox said as its form began to shrink, several other people falling to the ground as the fox changed shape.

"My birthplace is in the human realm within the walls of the hidden Leaf village but a few years ago I fled with the idea which resulted in my portal brining me here. I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, age 10."

"Naruto Uzumaki is human; you are most definitely not human." Gmabunta seethed.

"Two years ago the nine tails used her power and changed my human body into energy; I am the first human chakra life form." Naruto revealed.

"How, may I ask, did the nine tails accomplish this?" Katsuyu queried, she, being the summon of a medic ninja, was quite intrigued.

"When the nine tails was sealed into me by my father Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage, the seal used connected her with my chakra. She flooded my human body with her power changing it from physical mass to energy."

"What happened afterwards? Did something else happen as a result?" the slug boss continued.

"Neither of us are certain on how it happened and I'm not sure if this is relevant, but the nine tails is expecting a child." Naruto answered. This caught all the bosses off guard.

"No way!"

"That's impossible!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Inconceivable!" were the kinds of things the bosses were saying. The bosses were shushed when Naruto's body morphed in front of them from Naruto to that of Hitomi's human form, a sizable bump showing her pregnancy.

"**It may sound unbelievable, we tailed beasts are entities of pure chakra without any means of reproducing****, yet I am expecting a child in the future." **

"Nine Tails!" many bosses yelled out in fear realizing who it was in front of them.

"You were sealed! How did you get free?" Gamabunta called drawing his dagger.

"**Master Gamabunta I am not free, I am still bound to Naruto and will remain bound to him for all time, now that he is like myself, he and I share a lifespan." **

"As he should, he is your child's father." The bat boss suddenly said.

"**WHAT?"** shrieked Hitomi hearing this news making all the summons wince at the high pitch.

"Please refrain from reaching such high pitched levels nine tails, there are a lot of us with sensitive ears," Whined a dog boss, several other bosses grunting in agreement, except the elephant boss who was rolling on the ground in silent tears.

"If you will, I believe from the story that you have told us I have an answer to how it is you wound up pregnant. But before I get to that I believe there are a few people that need introducing," The bat boss said pointing one wing towards the other demon containers and one demon. Hitomi's figure warped back to Naruto who bowed low.

"My apologies Master bosses, these are the other demon hosts. Gaara containing a reformed one tailed raccoon," Gaara, using Shukaku's chakra, generated great amounts of sand; the sand grafting itself to his skin turning him into the beast held inside.

"Yugito containing the two tailed monster cat." Yugito performed a similar feat to Gaara who expelled great amounts of chakra, her body becoming covered in the mass of energy, forming the distinctive two tails with blue flames gently swaying in the breeze,

"Kai containing the three tailed giant turtle," Kai dropped to all fours as chakra seeped out of his body creating a defined turtle shell, three tails swinging lazily,

"Roushi containing the four tailed monkey," The man's body was engulfed in chakra as it grew several feet in size and weight, four tails sprouting from its tailbone,

"The changed 5 tailed dog Gobi formally the five tailed dolphin horse, Fu containing the seven tailed horned beetle," Fu like the other performed a similar transformation though her form procured 6 wings and a long thin tail like abdomen,

"and last but not least, Kirabi aka Killer Bee containing the eight tailed giant Ox." Like the others Killer Bee transformed into his tailed state, each octopus like arm corresponding for a tail.

"Some have changed their forms to hide from those that are hunting them, like the five tails and the eight tails. As it is, not all of the hosts are capable of complete transformations due to the amount of power that needs to be controlled," Naruto said indicating to each respective container as he named them off. Naruto's form shifted back to Hitomi instantly after. In the blink of an eye she was hovering in front of the bat boss.

"**Now tell me how I got pregnant!"** she demanded.

"Very well. Let us go back to how you changed your host from a human into energy, you used your power to change his body, whilst this was happening yours hosts chakra must have mixed with yours at some point during the transformation because the two of you are so closely linked, thus creating an entirely new entity, your host is the father of your child!" the Bat boss declared.

"…**What…?"** was her only response. The shock, too much for her to handle feinted and freefell to the ground. The body that was Hitomi and Naruto lost all its features changing into a mass of light purple energy.

"Naruto!" the containers called out as they saw their leaders 'fall from grace'. Within the blink of an eye just as Naruto was to hit the ground Gobi shot like a bullet directly under Naruto, his tails crossed over themselves to serve as a cushion for his fall.

* * *

As customary when Naruto let Hitomi take control of his 'body' he'd stay within the seal in her place and when he couldn't he'd split his consciousness to inhabit it while he and Hitomi both interacted with the outside world. He was unprepared for the return of Hitomi to the seal with tears cascading down her face. Before he had realized what was going on, Hitomi was on the bed he had provided for her, in the fetal position. He was further put off when he realized the meaning behind her behavior.

'The boss of the Bat clan said something about her pregnancy…I wish I knew what he'd said.' Naruto thought quickly as he started at the tearing pregnant woman in front of him. The changeover from him to her with his body had left him slightly dazed therefore leaving Naruto without the new information that Hitomi had received.

"Hitomi…what's wrong?" Naruto asked tenderly moving to comfort her. She whispered something, the words coming out in slurs.

"What?"

"…**It's yours…"** she mumbled.

"What's mine?" he asked confused.

"…**my baby…you're my baby's father…and it's my entire fault."** Naruto fell to the bed sitting beside the curled up red head, his eyes bank with shock.

"Holy fuck…" was all Naruto could muster as he processed this information. After a few seconds he looked at her sadly.

"I'm so sorry."

"…**Can you…leave? I'd like to be alone…"** She mumbled again, Naruto barely catching her words. Wordlessly complying with her request Naruto stood from her bed and moved towards the exit of her domain.

"I'm right here if you need me." The words barely left his mouth before Hitomi went nuclear.

"**I know that! That's why I asked you to leave! I don't want you near me! Go away and don't come back!" **she yelled, venom the likes he'd never seen before oozing from her words.

"**If that is what you wish****,"** Naruto said sadly before fading from the mindscape, his eyes misting over slight unknown to the other occupant of the room. Hitomi sat by herself for a moment before suddenly breaking into sobs. She sat alone shedding tears upon tears for what seemed hours to her, coming to terms with what she had just done.

Realization struck her with the force of a sledgehammer at the speed of light; before she was crying out of relief and slight joy, her hormones going crazy as a result. In her haste to deal with her newfound feelings, she lashed out at the one person who'd promised to help her. Whereas the tears of a few minutes ago were out of relief these new ones claiming her body were out of anguish and gut wrenching sorrow. She'd be the last to admit it but she had grown attached to her host. First it was only to keep herself alive when he suffered beating by the villagers that surrounded him as a child, which changed the day he decided to leave the village. From then she had become a teacher and he the student and had began exhibiting emotions like her host but dismissed it as a necessary development for Naruto to develop his skills. It changed again when Naruto returned to the Leaf village to rescue members of his small clique and adopted Hanabi as his daughter, she found herself taking a role with Hanabi's upbringing making sure that at a young age Hanabi would be able to survive alongside her father unlike any other her age.

'_**I've changed from an unfeeling creature to a mother figure**__**,'**_ She realized. Though Hanabi wasn't her daughter, Hanabi saw her as a mother and it gave great joy to Hitomi to see that.

'_**And when I realized I was pregnant Naruto went out of his way to make it easier on me, we had no idea why or how this happened but he stuck by me.' **_

'_We're a team you and I__,'_ his words from months ago rang through her mind making her frown sadly.

"**If we're a team, then I'm being a very shitty partner****,"** She growled to herself. Her face lost her frown as her words in the summons meeting came to the front of her mind.

"**I said I was bound to him from here till the end of time and I go and do this…to my partner, not my host****,"** she shook her head. Taking her baby bump in her hands she smiled ruefully. **"Your mother really knows how to make a mess of things huh?"** she said chuckling humorlessly. **"I wish he was here, I'd beat him up for making me feel like this."** She smiled at her small joke but sighed shortly afterward.

"**I never had emotions before I ****was sealed into your father, but that doesn't excuse how I acted; I was scared with what I was feeling and I blew up at him. I don't even know how I feel about him, he's changed me so much I don't know how to express what I feel for him properly, whatever it is I feel towards him,"** She said softly. Her ears twitched as they picked up the faint sound of chuckling nearby. Twisting her head at breakneck speeds she took note that the sound was coming from Naruto, standing just outside her domain in the mindscape.

"**What are you doing here?"** she asked bewildered, she thought for sure that she'd sent him packing to brood with her hormone driven words.

"Counting my luck actually, this wasn't the first time you blew up at me and told me to leave you alone. Sure the scenario was different but I was hoping that the result would be the same as the last; I know you say those things out of fear, and you've told me so before. I stayed nearby in case it was one of those times; counting my luck how many times this has happened, 8 times this year I think it was?" Naruto asked.

"**It was 16, idiot."** She said with a small smile, she'd always forget about those 16 times, 17 now, when they happened.

"Yeah well the principle is the same," He paused a moment to consider his next words. "So, will talking to our unborn child be your new therapy, she seems quite good at helping you vent," Naruto asked flippantly. Hitomi's eyes narrowed slightly.

"**How do you know it's a girl?"** after a moments pause.

"Because a boy born from you and me would be hyperactive carbon copy of me, I've done the math and the odds don't look too good if that ever happens. That and you've been insisting that our child will be a girl, I was just going off what you said." Naruto grinned; making Hitomi snort in amusement at the image that came to mind.

"…I also heard about your little confession on your feelings…" hearing this Hitomi seized up. "I don't know how I feel about you either, you've changed me so much I'd never be able recognize the old me but whatever it is I and you feel we have a long, long time to figure it out, we do have a long life to live after all," Naruto said reentering her domain and moving towards her.

"**I haven't been the ****greatest partner,"** Hitomi began, **"But I'm willing to work on it if you'll work on it with me."**

"Of course I will; we are a family after all," Naruto said; coming back to sit next to his partner.

"**A family…you, me, Hanabi and our baby…I like the sound of that."** Hitomi said with a smile taking Naruto into a hug which he returned. The moment lasted a few precious minutes, Naruto reluctantly breaking his hold on his significant other.

"Come on partner, we have a meeting to finish and a deal to broker."

* * *

The swirling mass of chakra shimmered a few times in front of everyone within the area before it took form of Naruto once again. He had forgone his baggy black cloak wearing only his dark reddish black armor plated suit, Naruto's hair swayed slightly in the slight breeze. Looking down at what he was sitting on Naruto smiled slightly.

"Thank you for catching us Gobi." He said as he got off Gobi's tails and touched back to the ground. Naruto turned around to view the boss summons that were staring at him blankly, some of them being slightly irked that they were delayed in their businesses with what had just happened.

"Forgive me for my brief absence and for dragging out this meeting longer, I know that most of you want to be done here to go back to your own sectors."

"You know brat you speak very well for someone in your situation." Manda said snidely. Naruto's face turned to the snake boss.

"What situation would that be Lord Manda?"

"You infiltrated this world with the pretence to set up a human village where there was none. Do you understand what is it exactly your goals might bring upon this land?"

"I have no intention of bringing human problems to this realm outside of the boundaries of the village that have been set. When I started this village; I enacted very strict rules that the people within my village have to follow. This includes trespassing territories, which I can only assume was your initial point in the first place. I have stated that trespasses of another's land would be punished under the laws of the land that had been trespassed upon. Is that satisfactory Lord Manda?"

"It is acceptable," Was his grave response.

"How will you ensure that your people do as you say?" a bird boss, a falcon asked.

"Everyone that lives within this realm within my walls has a seal placed on their bodies that holds an array for servitude, no one bearing my mark can go against my ruling without the seal being removed and punishment administered."

"Why is that?"

"The seal mentioned also serves as an anchor with the portal that I created, one that has come through the portal cannot be present within this realm without the seal or they will be transported back to the human world instantaneously."

"And should anyone find a way around this limitation?"

"It is very unlikely that such a situation would arise as only I can alter the seals in question but to answer your question, should anyone attempt to and succeed in finding a way around this limitation then I would have to kill them as they would be going against my authority by doing so," The clearing burst into a buzzing noise or murmurs as the various bosses discussed what Naruto had just said.

"Are the terms and rules set by Naruto Namikaze Uzamaki of the tailed Beasts for his human village agreeable? Those in favor say Aye," the Bat boss asked after a moment of deliberation. Little over half of the summons gathered voiced their approval.

"Those opposed?" The remaining summon bosses spoke up.

"The ayes have it; we agree to your terms of arrangement and allow you sanctuary within this realm," The Bat boss continued.

"Thank you for your generosity." Naruto said with al the sincerity that he had.

"You still have something to ask I sense." Another boss queried.

"I do have an extra request to make of every summon clan present, I wish to broker a partnership deal with my village ninja and your clans." At finishing his small speech the summon bosses exploded with retorts. The six gathered hosts lightened a ring around Naruto as Gobi fell in line above them growing several feet in size.

"Under what grounds do you ask us this?" the boss of the bears yelled cutting all other shouts short, the giant bears deep and explosively booming voice easy to hear over the cacophony of cries.

"I request this primarily due to the fact that the survival rate of any battle increases when one has a partner of any kind working with them. I wish not to send my ninja, my family and friends into situations where they may be unprepared for. This deal would serve for your benefit as well, most of the bosses present do not have an existing summoning contract with ninja in the human realm and will never experience life outside the borders in which you all live in. I also request this of all of you because of the many summon clans that do not exist to the humans and the clans that do, there are those amongst you that have had the wrong impression placed upon you due to those that hold your contracts; I hope I do not speak out of turn when I say that none of you here, nor any of your clan wish to be revered with fear or hatred." There was a pause for murmurs before the monkey boss spoke.

"Say we agree to this, how would such an arrangement work?"

"A pact drawn upon by the partners in question, they will seal a chakra binding oath with each other, one summon with one ninja for as long as either desires."

"This is an intriguing offer you present, we have agreed to your staying with us but this will take a lot more time to deliberate on, there are far more factors to consider than with the previous proposition," The Apes boss spoke up, many other bosses nodding agreement.

"Then we shall leave you to your deliberations, thank you all for hearing me out, I must head back to my village now, I have quite a few more things to do before the sun sets for the day," Naruto said politely, changing his shake to the giant red fox he had arrived as, the seven that came with him climbing onto his back.

* * *

"So now I need to make a choice, but I just don't know what I want." Hanabi grumbled as she plopped down on Rei's bed.

"Everyone's skills have secondary uses, those with water type seals like you and Isaribi contribute to our water stores, while mine and Temari's are wind that help disperse the rain clouds created by the water created from your chakra to the various crop patches around the village. So to live here is to be part of a team, and it is up to you to decide what part of the team you want to be; like several others with your seal type you may become very important and might just save someone's life because of the seal type you hold, we are all quite young so don't rush making your choice." The older girl said calmly while sitting beside her younger friend. A ripple of chakra washed over them making them jump up suddenly. Rushing out the door of Rai's bedroom the two girls met up with Kazumi at the front door of the apartment, also alert and ready to go.

"Grandma what's going on?" Rai asked quickly as they left the apartment and jogged to where they felt the disturbance come from.

"I'm not sure but it came from the Portal…Where is your father when this happens?" the elder Shioha asked rhetorically as the three female ninja got closer to the Portal area.

Several minutes later the three of them touched down to meet the faces of several other ninja, probably the Portal monitors that guard it and watch every time someone comes or goes through.

"What's going on here? What was with the chakra pulse?" Kazumi asked quickly addressing the guard on duty.

"Lady Kazumi, a team of initiates were coming through after a recon mission when an unidentified ninja attempted to pass through, the Portal has the assailant detained in stasis in a pocket dimension in the Portal, that must have been the cause of the pulse we felt," The guard answered carefully. Kazumi turned to the team of Initiates standing to the side.

"Show your loyalty," She instructed, each Initiate brandishing a Spirit seal under their wrists. Nodding approvingly she continued.

"What was your mission?" she questioned the leader, designated by an armband around the bicep.

"Recon and Intelligence ma'am," Replied the leader stiffly.

"What news do you have to report?" she prompted.

"The camps of bandits and samurai have cleared out of the immediate area around the edges of the island and are moving eastward towards Fire country by boat," Kazumi nodded absentmindedly.

"What can you tell me about what just happened?"

"We engaged the Portal and went to step through when something shot in with us, a high level infiltrator most likely given the amount of time the Portal stays open for every travel to and from."

"Very good, you and your squad get cleaned up and ready for debriefing, the Reikage is out currently but will be back shortly; use this time wisely to compile an accurate report. Dismissed," She said waving them off, the team vanishing instantly after. Kazumi turned to the Portal guards.

"Reveal the infiltrator." She commanded. With a single nod and a chakra signal later a plume of smoke happened under the arch signaling the emergence of something coming out of stasis. With a small breeze curtsey of Rai the smoke dispersed revealing the visage of a full body cloaked man with black hair, his cloak decorated with red clouds on a black setting. Eyeing the face of the frozen captor carefully Kazumi stepped back suddenly.

"Lady Kazumi, what is it? Who is that?" the guard questioned, concerned at his superiors actions.

"Place him back in stasis right now!" she ordered. Seconds' later suction like noises could be heard as the man vanished.

"No one do anything until Lord Reikage gets back!"

"Who is that Lady Kazumi?" a guard asked, thoroughly frightened at Kazumi's behavior.

"Akatsuki member Itachi Uchiha."

* * *

AN: I know what you are going to say and I completely agree but I honestly didn't have the creativity or ingenuity to come up with names for all of the summon bosses so I had them all address then as Master of their summoning clan, in the future i may go back and change them, provided I come up with the names or names are suggested by you, my readers.

There will be some people that will get on my case about how some characters are acting, if your going to do so then I suggest you do the following, zip your trap and don't make a fuss, it's not easy writing these chapters, in fact this was the hardest chapter to write to date, the hard part for the is out of the way for the moment but I'm going at this in a wait and see approach.

I'm really sorry that this has taken again, next to a year to update but I had been dealing with quite a big work load from my TAFE course (which is what attributed to my not being able to work on this chapter more [I simply cannot multitask different pieces of work at the same time] making me work on this for extended periods of time with signigicant breaks in between each time I sat down to write.) and it might unfortunately be the same next year and the years following 2010 as I am enrolling in another course, this one to assist in improving my style of writing, which is right up my alley.

Anyway, now that I've run my mouth yammering on it's your turn to talk, tell me what you liked about the chapter, what you didn't like, what you want to see more of and what you want to see less of (What you say may influence the story, you never know) so please hit that button that says Review the Chapter(I'll more than likely reply to any reviews sent).

Till we meet again, faithful readers...I'll see you on the road of life, where shit happens on every street.


	12. Searches, Fights and Unification

AN: Its been six months but I'm back, finally!

Now regrettably its nowhere near as long as my last few chapters but this one was particularly hard to write, hence the shortness. But it's also because of how the manga's been turning out, of all times for Kushina to turn up, why not have it during Naruto's fight with the Kyuubi over it's chakra, just when Naruto's will is starting to falter. I mean come on, isn't she suposed to be dead or something?

That's it for me and my mini bitch fit, read the chapter and be happy with it.

* * *

In the surrounding forests of the Hidden Spirit Village Zetsu, the renowned spy of the Akatsuki organization was fused within one of the trees, only showing a feint impression of his face through the bark as he waited for Itachi to return from his venture from inside the village in front of him.

"It's been too long; we should go in and check to see if he's dead or not." Zetsu's white half said in a bare whisper.

"**Agreed, if he has been captured then we need to retrieve his ring and eliminate him to ensure our secrets remain so; if he has not been captured then we can get a brief report to take make to Madara."** The Black half grunted. The imprint of Zetsu's face sank into the bark of the tree, Zetsu burrowing down into the dirt before moving towards the village, planning a subterranean infiltration, as was his specialty and reason why he was a well accomplished spy. Whilst traveling underground Zetsu made a sensor sweep to locate Itachi. Along with finding Itachi's location he had also gained the layout of the village as well as the people inside it.

"Something doesn't seem right…" white Zetsu crowed when they realized that there were very few high chakra signatures in the village.

"**Perhaps Itachi can explain this when we see him." **Black Zetsu suggested as they honed in on Itachi's location.

A massive circular tower with high walls and a razor wire fence greeted Zetsu, its construction composed of white brick with barred windows.

"That Uchiha must have gotten himself captured…let's break him out, it'd be so much fun!" White Zetsu said emphatically. A grunt from Black Zetsu saw Zetsu sinking back into the ground and into the building. Passing the walls of the tower Zetsu felt a powerful wave of chakra pass over him.

"**Must be a Chuunin from the chakra output, early 20's."** Theorized Black Zetsu as he continued to move; several corridors and near misses from several passing ninja later saw Zetsu at a very elaborate looking door which he sensed Itachi behind. There was no visible way to look through the other side and a massive seal drawn on its center branching out to the sides of the door giving Zetsu a moment's pause.

'There are no ways for anyone to see in or out of that room, meaning that these people know what abilities he has, whoever these people are they might have placed countermeasures to ensure that the one of the opposite side of the door wouldn't get out.'

'**The seals on this door are set so that only someone on this side can open it, seems to need a key and seeing that there is no key hole then it must be a chakra signature key…all we need do is find someone's chakra in this place to copy then we can release this seal and open the door.'**

'Why can't we just tunnel under it?'

'**The seal on the door creates a proximity box around the effected area, if we attempt to go under it, it would be the same as setting off the seal on the door which is rigged to explode when tampered with, its like a trip wire trap.'** The black half schooled his other half as he began to look for one of the nin patrolling the corridors.

'It's a bit odd that we're sensing 6 times more chakra signatures than a few moments ago…this place must be shielded to confine all chakra signatures from being picked up by enemy sensors…'

'**There must have been a genjutsu placed around this entire facility as well, we didn't see this massive tower till we were right next to it.'**

'Being under so many genjutsu plays havoc with our sensory abilities, the sooner we get out of here the better.' Both Zetsu's thought as they found and copied a patrolling nins' chakra. Zetsu returned to the door that Zetsu was sure was holding Itachi. Placing a hand to the center of the seal array the door gave a hiss and slid downwards into the ground leaving no sign of there being a door there at all. Peering inside the room Zetsu frowned as he took in the visual he was being presented with…Itachi was sitting on a chair, completely unbound and free in every account... chewing on a piece of pockey with a _smile_ of all things. Warning bells rang loudly in Zetsu's ears too late as Itachi locked eyes with the Venus fly trap dressed Akatsuki member before the black and white halved infiltrator slumped down to the ground.

Itachi continued to sit on his chair and munch on his pockey until it was all digesting in his stomach. Itachi stood up, dusted his hands from the crumbs and picked up Zetsu's prone form and exited the dark room. Itachi stood just outside the threshold of the room he had just been in and hummed a moment. Then the entire building shimmered suddenly, a concrete cell appearing right here the room Itachi had been in, Several Spirit ninja appearing right in front of him out of nowhere

"So…how did I do?"

"You'll do. Gaara, Roushi take this thing through the Portal and secure him in a place cut off from all forms of earth, get some help from a few earthen chakra users to construct his special prison. Itachi come with me, we're going to prepare you for your procedure." Naruto said turning to leave before his face morphed from the back of his head. "Oh yeah, almost forgot, I need those rings from you and that _thing_." Meant as a subliminal order Roushi maneuvered his hand down Zetsu's prone form do his hand, Gaara doing the same on the other side.

"Oh gross, there's puss like stuff down in here…" Roushi moaned as he reached for the plant mans hand.

"How old are you again?" Gaara deadpanned as he fished around Zetsu's other side for a ring. Seconds ticked by as the two earth users pocked and prodded their way down Zetsu's sides.

"I've found it but it doesn't appear to want to come off, it's like it's glued to his finger…" Grunted Gaara and he attempted to pry the ring off of Zetsu's hand. Naruto glanced at Itachi for an explanation.

"You'll have to cut it off, once we put one of those rings on our fingers they don't come off unless we're dead and you can't kill Zetsu just yet because he has vital information that no other member has because of his position." Itachi explained, while asking for a kunai to do just that.

"Hold off on doing that to yourselffor the moment, until I can get a specialized medic that can reattach your finger after you chop it off you'll just have to keep that thing on you." Naruto said halting Itachi's motion to mutilate his hand. There were several stares directed towards Naruto while Itachi had a blank, puzzled expression come over his face.

"Does this mean what I think it means…?" Isaribi asked among the assembled ninja. Naruto nodded his head positively.

"Yes, I will track down and bring back Tsunade Senju of the Legendary Three Ninja, and both you and Hanabi will be accompanying me, not only will we be able to help you but I can then also possibly be able to get Hanabi' a teacher in the medical field which she so desperately wants to be a part of." There were several snickers and muffled snorts at hearing that comment, Hanabi had been bugging her father for two months about being taught in the medical field and it had been grating on Naruto constantly to find her someone to teach her; Naruto figured he'd draft his honorary grandmother Tsunade, not only would he be able to get Isaribi the help she needed to reverse what had been done to her but he'd also be able to stick one to the Leaf village, after all they deserved a couple from him for what they had put him through.

"So when can we leave?" asked a now hyped up Hanabi who was jumping up and down in excitement.

"Well I have to set aside a time to place the seal on Itachi, show him around, give him accommodations, give him the low down with our laws and everything that goes with living in my village and seal away his Sharingan from being passed on to his children…so we'll leave in 12 hours." Everyone face faulted and earned Naruto a loud whine from Hanabi. "Okay alright, 3 hours…come with me Itachi I'll get you settled in." then with a breeze Naruto disappeared. Itachi glanced at everyone else remaining.

"Is he always like that?" The stoic Uchiha asked with a hint of hesitance in his voice.

"Pretty much…though when he relaxes his chakras unless your used to it you can suffocate under their pressure, he's got his power as well as the power of the nine tails flowing through him freely with no restraint…he controls it in its raw form so its near impossible to mould chakra against him coz he'll simply redirect it. His physical age may be younger then most of us here but he could squish us like bugs if he felt inclined to do so."

"He's that powerful?" Itachi asked, his eyes bulging slightly, as not to completely destroy his stoic façade.

"He doesn't like to boast… it speaks a great deal about his character. Though he doesn't like to be kept waiting, be punctual." Fu commented.

"Where did he go?" Itachi asked making several people palm their faces.

"I'll show you to Naruto's office," Kazumi spoke up muttering a few words about 'Forgetful brats' under her breath. "Hanabi, Isaribi, go prepare for your journey, you might be gone a while." The elderly woman paused a moment. "Don't forget to place this plant… man…_thing_…in a cell cut off directly from any compounds of earth or stone like Naruto ordered, use the wind prison Gaara and Shukaku developed, we can't take the chance he might escape, dismissed." She commanded before everyone split up.

Later

Itachi sat opposite Naruto in front of said persons' desk in his office, listening to Naruto explain the procedure he was going to perform.

"Essentially I'll be sealing away a part of your DNA that the Sharingan is imprinted on, so that it cannot be passed on to your children, should you have children in the future, this is strictly a precaution we can't have anything like what has happened, happen again. Unfortunately this only applies to you as you are the only Uchiha I consider worthy enough to save, your little brother and your ancestor Madara have to die." Itachi's coal black eyes widened.

"But Sasuke's an innocent!"

"After what you did to him?" Naruto scoffed. "Not likely. He'll become another Orochimaru, due to him being the last loyal Uchiha he'll demand anything he wants and steal what he doesn't get, he'll run to whoever can give him the most power as quickly as possible because in his mind Itachi, he measures his strength against yours at his age, no one else…not that the villages will be much help either, thinking that he'd strong coz he survived your purge, you might have said otherwise but that's what they believe and what he will when given enough time." Itachi's eyes widened.

"I see your starting to get the picture, he doesn't see himself killing you after a decade, in his mind because he is an Uchiha, a member of a supposed _elite_ ninja clan, he sees himself infinitely stronger than he actually is and when his delusions are shattered, should he activate the Sharingan, your bloodline will twist his mind till there's nothing but hatred, he'll kill anyone that so much as looks at him." There was a long stretch of silence before Itachi broke it.

"I understand your point now, should Sasuke generate enough hate, like I told him he had to in order to kill me, then we'll all die."

"That's why we have to kill him while he hasn't gone off the deep end into insanity like many Uchiha beforehand from using the Sharingan too much; we also have to stop him from being a pawn for Madara. Madara will not take your disappearance lightly and will most likely go after Sasuke to fulfill some sort of role. My gut feeling is that Madara will mount an offensive against the Leaf village a third time to get his vengeance that he was denied twice already, he has more then enough secrets of the Uchiha and of the Leaf village to turn Sasuke into a willing pawn. Fortunately for us Madara is but a shell of his former self and has very little power himself, which is why he wanted the tailed beasts, he intended to use them to bolter his own strength."

"But that doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe it does, maybe Madara wants to bite back at the whole world for what the First Hokage had done to him, he has already demonstrated the ability to manipulate and control Hitomi as he wishes, who's not to say that he can't so the same for the other 8? I will not allow him to use my brethren like that, which was one of the reasons I founded this village in the first place, it provides protection for us from Madara's gaze, at least for now."

"Right, where is here exactly?"

"The arch you passed through is a gateway, a portal to the summoning realm which the ninja reside in while the civilians live in the human realm. The shroud that covers the village in the human realm is a genjutsu seal that obscures its image from the outside. Additionally there are proximity seals layering the entire island so nothing can escape my notice, or at least not for very long. But enough of this banter; I'll inject my seal into you and separate the Sharingan from your genes." Itachi looked alarmed at Naruto's choice of words. Naruto waved his hand to calm the startled Uchiha.

"My method of sealing is unique to me alone, I have a construct in my mind that holds sealing scripts, I 'stamp' my seal onto the body via transferring them from my mind into your body by injecting what you see as my body, into yours, you'll see seals travel down what you see as my arm and into you where they'll ingrain their marks on you. Now based on the seal that I need to use on you to limit the Sharingan powers to you only the seals will go directly on your eyes so you might be blind for a short amount of time while the seal sets, give or take 5 to 10 minutes." Naruto said getting up and walking to a wall of his office where a door melted into view. Wordlessly Itachi stood up and followed Naruto down a set of stairs to an underground chamber which had sunlight filtered into it puzzling Itachi.

"Candles provide inadequate lighting for down here so I developed a few seals that allowed sunlight to filter through the earth and through these seals on the roof." Naruto said indicating to the bright squares that were pasted on the roof that were shining light on a simple stone table. Naruto indicated for Itachi to lie down on the stone slab, which the stoic Uchiha did without a sound.

"I've only ever performed this seal once before and that was a variant of the seal I'm going to use on you, Kimmimaru Kaguya, at first he couldn't adapt to the change of having no distinct chakra points to focus his chakra to so I had to temporarily cut his ability to use the Dead Bone Pulse bloodline of his in any form; due to you already having formal shinobi training I'm hoping to avoid a similar episode."

"No distinct chakra points?" Itachi asked confused.

"All the ninja in this village, except for the other 6 demon hosts, have no actual chakra pathways or chakra points, a seal placed on their bodies expands and grows both until their chakra points and pathways overlap each other making the mental task of focusing chakra the easiest thing in the world to do. You will receive that same seal in a month's time, as I don't want the seal that I'm about to place on you interfere with it." Naruto said as he neared Itachi's head, bringing his hands over Itachi's eye sockets.

"Try to relax as best you can, you'll experience pain the likes you've never felt before but it will be quick. And don't blink, whatever you do." Was all Naruto said before his palms procured two needle like points that sank into Itachi's eyeballs. Itachi's coal black eyes pulsed, changed to the Mangekyo form for a moment before Itachi started screaming. If not for a silencing seal that was placed on the chamber itself the entire village would be able to hear the sheiks of the turncoat Uchiha as his genes were being rewritten.

Elsewhere in the Land of fire, in the Leaf village, in the Konoha ninja academy, Sasuke Uchiha felt a shiver go down his spine coupled with a sudden urge to cover his crotch and his eyes.

An Hour later

Naruto stood beside himself while addressing those assembled in his office, that being Kirabe, Roushi, Kai and Kazumi.

"I will be gone for who knows how long in tracking down Tsunade and bringing her back to the village so I will stay here to manage the village whilst the other me reports back what happens, should anything apocalyptic happen please inform me. Itachi should be out for the rest of the day, when he comes to please inform him of all the need to know information and set him up with an apartment; tell him he'll have three days till he is begin active duty." Wide eyes met Naruto's leveled ones.

"Three days? Isn't that a bit soon?" Roushi cautioned. Naruto shook his head.

"Itachi is nothing short of a genius ninja, I am certain that he will adapt to his new skill set fairly quickly; after he gets himself a new identity from Kazumi sensei of course." There was a pause. "Hanabi, Isaribi, Rei and myself should be back in a months time with Tsunade, she was last seen in a gambling den near the Land of Fire's capital so it will take some time to find her, hence the long absence. Do try not to raise hell till I get back?" Naruto said with a chuckle dismissing everyone from his office.

"A whole month? Are you serious Dad?" Hanabi asked, the barest hints of a whine present in her voice.

"That's right Hanabi, while tracking down Tsunade will be difficult, convincing her will be that much harder as she has grown bitter and cold towards the world for what happened in the previous war. This is why I'm bringing you three with me, between the three of you there's enough sweetness to turn even the coldest person into a ball of sunshine." Naruto said with a considerable amount of mirth behind his statement.

"That's not true Lord Reikage; Hanabi can do that all by herself." Isaribi chimed, making Hanabi puff her cheeks in a pout. Naruto snickered a bit but quickly sobered up.

"Yes I'm sure she can, though it would be nice if she has reinforcements now wouldn't it, like I don't know, a baby sister?" Naruto said offhandedly. The three girl's eyes went wide.

"How…?" was all any of the three girls were able to get out.

"It just so happens that your mother is pregnant, your sister will be born on my 5th anniversary since my ascension, for a lack of a better word." Naruto explained. What happened next was an explosion of chatter from the three girls in front of Naruto who could only groan at their exuberant chatter.

'Oh well at least she's have that to look forward to.' Naruto muttered.

'**Aren't you excited at all?'** Hitomi asked.

'Of course I am Hitomi; I just can't fathom such a special event happening in my home village of all places…so many things can go wrong with that factored in alone.'

'**Don't dwell on it too much Naruto, after all my due dates not for a long while yet... though you will have to tell Hanabi about the birthing procedure before then.'**

'Yeah I know, that's what's got me so worried.'

'**Worry about it after you've found your grandmother.'**

'You're right, again…like always.' Naruto said resigned.

'**I am the better half so of course I'm right.'**

While Naruto was having his inner monologue the girls with him were talking in hushed voices.

"You know your Dad's really weird Hanabi?" Rei asked. Hanabi shrugged.

"I know, but dad says that if he wasn't the way he is then the world would be so much more dull, he tries to brighten up as much of the world as he can because he knows that the lives we live aren't going to be very happy ones, 'A life of taking other lives does not leave much to be desired.' He told me once." Hanabi explained. "It's one of the reasons I want to become a medic, so I can save the lives of as many people as possible."

"And it doesn't bother you that those skills you want to learn will be applied to ending lives as well?" Rei asked curiously.

"Almost everyone dies Rei, some peoples deaths are only delayed or hastened with their actions in life." Hanabi replied, though Rei and Isaribi could tell she wasn't happy with that truth.

"That is quite a cold truth, a sad but true fact. I'm sure that those are one of the first things taught in any ninja training program." Isaribi commented. A gnarly grunt met the tail end of Isaribi's comment.

"Some villagers, maybe two out of the lot of them have that kind of system; but other villagers sugar coat the life of a shinobi; they don't address killing in their academies because they don't want to turn people away from the ninja life, especially in times like these." The clueless expressions met Naruto's words.

"Times like what?" they asked simultaneously.

"Since the last Great Ninja war all of the major villagers have undergone disarmament processes; in times of peace the likes that they are living though such a need for high caliber defenses are no longer necessary so they are dismantled and reintegrated into the masses, as peacetimes dictate." He explained.

"What does that have to do with anything?" they asked.

"Everything. With villagers not producing ninja of a high standard they require more manpower in numbers to bridge the gap that was left due to the disarmament, just in case of an attack." He lectured.

"Attack from whom?" Hanabi asked.

"Human beings are susceptible to paranoia, ninja are even more so because they have power. In their minds there is always a threat of attack from anyone which is why ninja are still trained even in peacetimes like these. On the flipside this is an excellent opportunity for bounty hunters and mercenaries as the need for skilled and efficient killers increases, its cheaper to hire a mercenary to do a job then it is to wait for a ninja to be trained enough to do it. The elemental nations are all puppets to this design." Naruto said a bitter note to his words.

"And that's what we're doing right dad? We're trying to break that design by taking jobs that mercenaries would, right?" Hanabi questioned.

"Correct, it also spreads word of our village and our prowess so that we become better known throughout the land to draw more prospective clients. But again my ultimate goal was to hide away from the group that sought the tailed beast hosts, everything after that is secondary."

"That's why you don't have them leave the village often, isn't it?" Isaribi asked.

"The group that wants to capture the hosts to the tailed beasts are also mercenaries that take almost any job. In the event that they leave the village, they could lead that same group of mercenaries straight to our door and we're unprepared for such an event."

"But we will be eventually, won't we?" Hanabi asked hopefully.

"Like with most things in life Hanabi, nothing is a certainty; but I certainly hope so." The mood was quite a bit somber till they reached the shore; Hanabi, Rei and Isaribi were talking quieter, more reserved the closer they got to the coast. Naruto paused at the bank of the beach head before addressing the three girls.

"Okay here's the plan, Tsunade and her apprentice Shizune are most likely in one of Fire countries Red Light Districts which in itself poses a problem for us because of possible Leaf village sentries scouting us, normally this wouldn't be a problem but…"

"My being here changes that. Right Dad?" Hanabi asked dejectedly. Naruto beckoned Hanabi to him before wrapping her into a warm hug, the heat of his chakra exerting a warm heat that flooded through her small body.

"Don't be like that Hanabi, you might be a former child of the Hyuuga Clan of the Leaf village but I will die before I let them take you away from me." Naruto declared enveloping Hanabi in a shroud of chakra which then began to change her physical characteristics. Hanabi's dark brown hair bled red and her eyes dulled to a muddy brown all the while Rei and Isaribi were looking on in awe, Naruto never flaunted his skills so everything that he did was awing to the two of them.

"Dad what did you do to me?" the changed girl asked confused, she had felt a sheet of chakra pass over her and attach itself to her frame.

"I placed a transformation over you, you look kind of like your mother now except the eyes are brown instead of red. Had we gone into Fire country with you as your own sweet self we'd have been apprehended within the first hour and we can't have that." Immediately after Naruto's body began to change shape, expanding outwards till what was standing in front of the three girls was a gargantuan black bird with sapphire eyes. Naruto crouched on his new hind legs and twitched his wings prompting the three girls to climb on his back.

"This is going to be awesome!" Rei commented with unusual excitement baking the two other passengers look at her strangely. While Naruto spread his wings Rei blushed slightly under the scrutiny. "What?"

"You've never been this gung ho about much of anything, its surprisinggggggggg!" Isaribi said just as Naruto shot off like a bat out of hell surprising his passengers.

"WOOHOO!" squealed Hanabi who had been under these circumstances many times in the past and come really enjoy the fast paced travel that her dad was capable of producing.

A month later

Naruto stood at the tip of a hill overlooking a bustling city that was alive with bright lights and music. He motioned for Isaribi and Rei to follow him as he pulled Hanabi with him to a secluded section on the path.

"Alright this is the person that we're looking for." Naruto transformed into Tsunade before changing back. "She's more than likely in a gambling den or at a bar drinking heavily so that limits the places she can be. Stay sharp though, there are a lot of people here that will try something if you let them, remember we're not supposed to be here or we risk creating a political incident." lectured Naruto as he began moving to the gambling hotspot. When they touched down on the coast of the Land of Fire Naruto had reverted to his human form, complete with his Kage outfit and said that they had to make the jounwy on foot as to not attract attention.

"It shouldn't be too hard to sense for someone as strong as Tsunade, with as much chakra as she has she should stick out like a sore thumb." Rai reasoned. Naruto shook his head.

"Normally that would be the case but one main factor in measuring the chakra level a single person has is all to do with how much control someone has over their chakra and how much chakra they have. Because Tsunade is a medic ninja she has superb control of her chakra meaning she'll be able to limit her chakra level to a certain degree." Naruto informed her.

"Eugh, not chakra levels again, I hate chakra levels! Why did you make it so we have to cover chakra levels in the Preliminary training?" moaned Hanabi.

"It makes for gauging chakra levels and training control much easier, it is the first thing taught which is why it's called _preliminary_ training." Rai and Isaribi droned out in tandem.

"Everyone that lives has a chakra which they live on, currently trainees need to be able to control chakra levels of at least 30 or above to advance in rank and a further 70 chakra levels to be accepted for team placements, those without our unique regimen of training generally have above 300 levels of chakra, which is what Tsunade should have at her age. Now if we factor in her medical skills with chakra she should be generating a 50 to 100 chakra level so…" stretching his hand out into the air Naruto extended his senses, emitting a single pulse of chakra that washed over the gambling hotspot, the wave counting the number of people in the city and the chakra level of all of them. A moment later Naruto let his arm go lax and he turned to his companions.

"Well there are 30 people here with a chakra level above 50, we can discount almost all of them that aren't in a gambling parlor or a bar so that leaves 3, assuming that I have the layout of the city well versed; remember to keep your senses peeled though, you never know when something can happen." He instructed as they moved down the path into the city, merging with a sizable mass of people on the street. They moved in a diamond formation with Naruto at the point, his aura and mystique allowing them to navigate through the sea of people.

Their presence did not go unnoticed, tales of exploits tied to Naruto's current appearance drew sizable visual interest as well as fear, many had heard about the tales of the self proclaimed Reikage's power and none were gutsy enough to confront him. Whispers spread like wildfire through the crowds but none of the Spirit ninja so much as acknowledged their existence.

"Those guys don't scare me," a random member of a crowd spoke up. "Their leader isn't a recognized Kage, their village is unofficial in the eyes of the 5 Great Nations, and they just act like their top shit." He sneered.

"I heard that they have an alliance with the Hidden Mist, that that guy was part of the reason why Mist's civil war is over now." Another said pointing at Naruto. Others were silent in their observations, a few of them on a trip from inside the walls of the Hidden Leaf village.

"What do you suppose they're here for?" one asked.

"Whatever they're here for it must be important, the one in black is said to never leave his village unless it was important." Another answered.

"We should alert the Leaf that they're here, just in case, I'll get the authorities here to signal for a team" The first suggested. A third person nodded in agreement.

"Don't take too long though; we don't know what their business here is." They cautioned.

Elsewhere close by, Tsunade's personal attendant Shizune, who was trying to find her Master had overheard the exchange from those men and hastened her gait; Tsunade didn't want any contact with Konoha and would need to be informed of an incoming Leaf recon team if they didn't want to be seen. Becoming slightly panicked at the thought of Tsunade's reaction to being found by Leaf nin she cast her gaze down to the pig in her arms.

"Tonton we have to find Lady Tsunade quickly, there's no time to lose." The piglet sniffed a bit before turning its head slightly. Shizune noting the direction dashed in that direction, when it came to finding Tsunade no one was better at finding her scent than Tonton.

Naruto stopped abruptly in the middle of the dirt road making the girls pause in mid step.

"Did you feel that?" he asked quickly.

"Feel what?" Isaribi asked.

"The Chakra levels of someone, one of the people with one of the highest chakra level in this city just fluctuated." Naruto replied turning his head in the direction he had felt the flux.

"What does that mean exactly again?" Hanabi asked.

"A person's chakra level fluctuates depending on the emotions they're feeling at the time such as worry, panic or anger. I think we've just found our ticket to locating who where looking for, follow that Chakra level." Naruto commanded before leaping to the roofs, Rei, Hanabi and Isaribi not far behind him, leaving quite a few miffed pedestrians for impeding their movements with their actions.

"How do you know that this person will lead us to great grandma Tsunade?" Hanabi asked keeping with her father, her young form looking completely out of place leaping through the air.

"I have a gut feeling, I'm certain that this person will lead us to your great grandma," he paused a moment. "How often have I been wrong?" Hanabi scrunched her face up trying to recall such a time.

"I can't think of one." Hanabi said after a moment.

"There's your answer then, I know I'm right about this." Naruto said, dead set on his goal.

Tsunade Senju pressed the button on her slot machine with a quick bash; she was running out of coins to feed the greedy monster that was stealing all her money, or to put it more accurately, the casino's money as she had taken out a loan to play the machines. The reels misaligned again for what felt like the millionth time.

"Damn it…" she growled fishing out some more coins before feeding the beast and pressing the button again to start the spin. In Tsunade's mind she watched the reels in slow motion, one major jackpot, two major jackpot, three…her eyes widened as she saw the pictograms on the machine line up perfectly.

"Oh no." she moaned just as the machine erupted in a cacophony of noise signaling the other patrons that she had won the major prize pool of 15 million ryo. "This isn't happening, this can't be happening…" she began to sputter as the casino staff drew near. What happened after that was all a blur to her, she was still shell shocked that she had one a massive amount of money on a gamble.

"Lady Tsunade!" a call from her assistant Shizune, who had just found her, broke her out of her revere. Collecting her winnings with a dignified snatch, she let out a quick bye before she raced out of the casino. Shuzine was quick to follow her master just realizing what had happened, that Tsunade had just won at a slot machine setting alarm bells blaring in her head.

Naruto touched down at a roof adjacent to the casino that Tsunade was currently exiting, Hanabi, Rai and Isaribi landing behind him. Naruto pulsed his chakra to get a read on the chakras in the area to make sure they were on the right track, his efforts gaining him two very erratic chakra levels that were coming closer by the second.

"She's in there, and she's coming fast, the one we followed here is coming with her as well." Naruto stated, not moving in the slightest.

"So what are we going to do?" Isaribi asked puzzled. Naruto was silent for a moment.

"We let them go, if both Tsunade and her partner are acting like this, high on adrenalin, then they will be less inclined to take our presence very well if we approach them. Let's get them to leave the city so we don't cause a scene, this is private business." Naruto said evenly. True to his word, Tsunade and her companion raced out of the casino like bats out of hell, Tsunade taking far less care who she stomped over that her companion who was shouting apologies behind her.

"Shizune! Toss the money, get rid of it!" they heard Tsunade shout over her shoulder as they broke from the crowd in the city. Naruto took note as he perused his grandmother, that Shizune, he heard her name was, looked extremely hesitant to part with the money that had been given to them in a leather bound briefcase just before they bolted from the casino but did as she was asked and tossed it.

"Keep your distance and don't do anything till I tell you otherwise." Naruto commanded before shooting forward to intercept the path that Tsunade was going to pass.

Tsunade skidded to a halt on the dirt path she was on when she sensed a powerful presence appear in front of her from out of nowhere, Shizune doing the same but betting into a ready stance. Eyeing the obstacle in her way she took in the person's getup.

'Black billowing cloak, black mask with red markings on the cheeks, thin sword held horizontally at the back of the waist. There's no mistaking it, it's that guy.' Tsunade grumbled mentally.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Shizune on the other hand didn't adhere to rumors and did not know who exactly was in front of her. The brunettes eyes widened as an arm and hand sprouted from the person in front of her, placing their hand in a motion of surrender.

"Forgive my abruptness, I do not mean to scare you; we mean you no harm." He said pointing to the three girls that were closing in on Tsunade and Shizune from behind them. "I only wish to talk with Tsunade Senju about a family matter that she is privy to." Shizune's eyes wizened in shock while Tsunade's narrowed.

"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you all?" Tsunade demanded.

"I'm pretty sure you know who I am by my deeds in Rain country some years ago Tsunade, the alias that I go by is the Chakra Demon, I am the leader of the Hidden Spirit village located in the Land of the Sea, and I am the self proclaimed Shodai Reikage. But more important than that, I was once a boy that haled from the Hidden Leaf Village by the name of Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto took note of the wince of the mention of both his and Tsunade's former home and the widening of the buxom blondes eyes.

"What did you just say?" she asked in disbelief.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, now Naruto Namikaze, the son of the Fourth Hokage of Konoha Minato Namikaze, your surrogate son." Naruto dissolved his hood and mask revealing his young face with the spine like blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. "Behind you are three of my kunoichi, Isaribi, Rei and my daughter Hanabi, like I said before we don't mean you any harm, if we did you wouldn't be conscious right now." Shizune's eyes widened. my mymy

"What do you want with me?" Tsunade grunted.

"Is that any way to treat your honorary grandson?" he asked with an edge. "I've sought you out for your help in the medical arts."

"I refuse." Tsunade replied in a dead tone.

"I wish you'd reconsider, do me this small service and I'll make it worth your while." Naruto's words made Tsunade's brow rise.

"How, prey tell, could you make this worth my time and effort?" Tsunade asked with a raised brow.

"Well, I could pay off all of your outstanding debts, for a start." Naruto said bluntly. Shizune's jaw dropped and Tsunade crossed her arms with a snort.

"You realize how much debt I've got to my name? There's no way that you'd be able to pay that." She sneered.

"On the off chance your right and I can't, I'd be willing to offer you a place to hide from everyone that's hunting you for money within my village where you'd be able to set up a medical training course for every ninja under my command, like you wanted to do with the Leaf village but were shot down." Naruto knew he hit a sore spot there, he saw Tsunade physically shake at his mention of the Leaf village.

"I…" she stammered.

"And even if none of that was enough to convince you, you owe it to my dad to help me, weather you like to admit it or not we are family. Hanabi is not my daughter by blood but she is in heart and soul, just like Minato was to you. You've lost a lot in your life under the service of the Leaf village, but not everything is lost for you, you still have loved ones that care for you, I can tell without even having to ask that your companion thinks the world of you, like my daughter does of me. I'm not asking you to forget them but people that die are to be remembered, not mourned." Naruto counseled.

"What would you know about loss?" Tsunade accused.

"From as far back as I remember to the age of 7 I knew only loneliness, I wasn't allowed to do anything with anyone, anytime, anywhere, I had no friends to speak of, the villagers saw to that by keeping their children away from me; I didn't have any loved ones because I was denied such. I know almost nothing of loss like you do but I can tell you right now, that loneliness, that dark cold feeling of being denied the same basic rights every human being is entitled to, is a thousand times more painful than any kind of loss because at least you have pleasant memories or something or someone. Yes your loved ones died but everyone dies, except for a few exceptions, it's our choices that make us who we are and you're trying to hide from those choices." He paused a moment.

"The pain of their passing doesn't ease if you can't accept and move on, neither of those whom you loved that died would have wanted you to remember them like this, they'd have wanted you to live your life to the fullest so that when you do die you will be able to meet your loved ones with a smile and tell them that you did everything that you wanted to in live instead of shedding tears of sadness and sorrow." By the end of Naruto's impromptu speech Tsunade had been reduced to a crying heap in the dirt, Naruto's words worming into her head and heart. Shizune had forgone her ready stance in favor of cradling her master, teacher and life long friend in her arms.

Hanabi moved from her Dad's side to the hugging pair and tenderly shook the older woman's shoulder to get her attention.

"Miss Tsunade, it would mean the world to me if you could come with us, one of my friends needs your help and my dad says that only someone with your medical skills can help her. She was a test subject of Orochimaru before dad found her and took her in, she lost everything before she met us but we can't help her like you can." Hanabi pleaded. Isaribi timidly approached the blonde woman, letting her hood that was obscuring her face drop.

"I lost everything to Orochimaru but I have a new drive, a new purpose where before there was nothing; I'm sure you can do the same, after all you are far stronger than I could ever hope to be." She preached.

"Besides all that you'll be able to witness the birth of your pseudo great grand daughter in two years time, and I'd be so relieved to know I have a medical professional to turn to for advice." Naruto piped in drawing Tsunade's watery gaze.

"You're having a daughter in two years? What about your other daughter? How can you manage that at the age of 10? How'd you have a daughter at your age anyway?" she asked bewildered with a few sniffs in between. Tsunade and Shizune, who were starting to settle their sob, collected themselves and stood up, turning to Naruto for an answer. Tsunade and Shizune's eyes widened when Naruto's entire body shifted entirely into that of a beautiful red head woman who was sporting a very large baby bump.

"**We intend to accommodate for both Hanabi and our baby girl when she arrives. Though this will not be a normal birth by any means Naruto was correct in saying that having someone who is a professional in the medical field may be able to help shed some light on our situation."** She explained. Two blank stares were what met the end of her small speech. Hanabi quickly scampered over to her and launched herself at the red head in a flying tackle with a cry of "mommy!"

"Who…who are you?" Tsunade stuttered out, caught completely off guard. The red head blushed slightly realizing her folly.

"**My apologies, I am Hitomi Namikaze, Naruto's life partner and mother of his future daughter and this little rascal here. Behind you are Rei Kazumi and Isaribi."** Hitomi introduced flicking Hanabi on her nose distorting the disguise Naruto had placed over her revealing her Hyuuga like characteristics.

"That's a Hyuuga!" exclaimed Shizune in total shock.

"**Shh! Keep it down will you?"** Hitomi said as if scolding a child for misbehaving. **"Hanabi Namikaze is Naruto and mines adoptive daughter, we saved her from being traded to Cloud by a rogue Leaf ninja before fleeing the Land of Fire years ago. Due to the particulars of our actions inside the Leaf village not 20 minutes before we found her, Naruto took it upon himself to raise Hanabi as his own daughter, a decision he's never regretted, and Hanabi couldn't be happier with how things turned out, isn't that right?"** Hitomi said while tickling the brunette in her arms who started squirming at the red heads light touch. Hitomi ceased her tickle torture abruptly, her form vanishing with a misty haze before Naruto reappeared.

"And although she'll never admit it, Hanabi would die for the chance to train under you, so that she could use that knowledge to help as many people as she could." Naruto said, willingly pulling on Tsunade's strings.

"I wanna smash holes in the ground, ha!" Hanabi cheered punching the air making Naruto sweat drop and Tsunade, who had recovered from her crying spell earlier, to burst out laughing suddenly.

"She's gonna make one hell of a student…" she said with a chuckle. Shizune turned to her mentor completely startled.

"Does that mean you're going to accept the offer…?" she started. Tsunade nodded her head once.

"Yep, you've got yourself a deal brat; I'll come with you to your village. What about you Shizune?" Tsunade queried.

"Are you kidding? Someone has to keep an eye on you of you'd never get any work done! Besides it would be nice to get away from life on the road." she exclaimed quickly before blushing red from embarrassment. "As long as it's okay with you Naruto?" She amended.

"No problems here, I assumed that you'd be coming along when I saw how she reacted to your actions before in the casino. Speaking of Casino's, before we leave, here are your winnings from earlier." Naruto said gesturing to Rei who was carrying the forgotten briefcase with the money inside it. "You can use that money to set up a teaching hospital because we currently don't have those kinds of facilities yet." He paused a moment, contemplating something before shrugging. "I really didn't expect you to cave in that quickly to be honest, I thought we'd at least get into a fight before you agreed, of I'd have had to knock you out and bring you back by force, though that would have played havoc with my exit strategy from the Land of Fire." Naruto confessed.

"What about my debts?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"Don't worry about them, I'll have them paid in full, the current Mizukage owes me a favor or two for helping the Mist end their civil war, I suppose liberating their casino's of all their cash would call us even, ne?" Naruto said with a smile and a shrug. Shizune and Tsunade's eyes widened hearing this. Naruto blurred and Hitomi came into view again.

"**One thing you should know about Naruto is that he is a god when it comes to gambling, he's never lost a bet in his life."** Hitomi vanished and Naruto reappeared.

"What can I say, I'm just that lucky. Now I'm thinking we should get out of here before the squads of ninja that are closing in on us get here. Get on board." Naruto commanded as he transformed his body into a massive bird. Rei and Isaribi were quick to comply, Hanabi jumping onto Naruto's bird head though Tsunade and Shizune were far more skeptical.

"Come on, get on I don't bite, it's perfectly safe, I'll even slow down so you don't feint from the gravitational force you'd normally feel." Both med nins shared a look before leaping onto a free spot on Naruto's back. Within 5 seconds Naruto began his take off and began to soar into the air.

"So, I take it that Hitomi is the nine tailed fox right? Totally not what I had expected." Tsunade asked looking over the side at the land below them.

"Hai, she and the rest of the tailed beast hosts are housed in our village except one which has eluded Naruto's every attempt at locating him; it is a source of irritation for him." Isaribi answered.

"How does Naruto gather that information?" Shizune asked.

"The Reikage has a somewhat unique kind of jutsu that creates creatures of all kinds out of his chakra, he uses flies made of chakra to send him real time information back to him from all over the continent, except of course the Land of Fire, which was what made finding you so hard."

"That's unbelievable!" the brunette medic cried in disbelief.

"**It suits it purpose but they can't hold up under scrutiny of insect enthusiasts like the Aburame clan and other bug enthused families, which is why we steer clear of Fire country and parts of Earth country."** Hiromi's disembodied voice sounded around them.

"So brat, where are we headed to now?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"I'm taking us back to my village before leaving again. Don't worry too much though I'll explain everything when you get to my office in the village." Naruto explained.

"How do you expect to do that if you're going somewhere straight after?" Shizune asked puzzled.

"Dad can split himself into two people, so he can be both in the village and out in the field. He says that a Generals place is on the battlefield commanding the troops, not sitting behind a desk being protected, signing sheets all day." Hanabi explained sitting on her dad's head.

"I'm consciously in two places at once, looking both left and right at the same time; when I first used the technique it was really disorientating but after a while I got used to it. I had to be really careful when I started using it though, if I had halved my chakra with any of Hitomi's mixed in I couldn't guarantee nothing would happen to the baby." Naruto informed his new passengers.

"I'll bet, the human brain isn't meant to be able to process that kind of information." Tsunade lectured.

"For my seventh birthday, Hitomi turned me into what I am now so I'm not human; I retain the emotions and feelings of what it's like to be human but I'll never be that again… my thought processes are the same as before however, if not a bit more advanced. That's one reason I wanted to find you Grandma, Hitomi being pregnant is supposed to be impossible but she is and we'd feel better if we had a medical expert so we're not flying completely blind." Naruto said somberly.

"We'll do everything we can." Shizune declared earning a stony look from Tsunade. "What? We get to witness a once in a lifetime medical anomaly, this won't happen ever again." She paused a moment. "I mean that in the lest offensive way possible."

"Quiet! I've been spotted by someone on the ground we didn't leave fast enough, we're being tracked. Hanabi take a look and see who it is, we might be in trouble here." Naruto snapped suddenly. On her dads head Hanabi activated her Byakugan, the trademark veins bulging at the temples. From her vantage point Hanabi's eyes zoomed in on the ground to view any pursuers.

"Four people…two male, two female…their Leaf village ANBU, two with purple hair, one with silver and one with brown." She analyzed.

"We must have been spotted in that city by one of the people with a suppressed chakra level." Surmised Isaribi.

"We have to lose them before we reach the coast, otherwise they'll be able to determine where we're headed and I do not want Leaf village shinobi knocking on my door any time soon." Naruto said flapping his wings really hard and fast suddenly. "Great Breakthrough!" in a flash of red, waves of scorching fire blanketed the immediate area underneath them.

"What the hell was that?" the brown haired anbu cried as they barely avoided being flayed alive by a blanket of fire.

"Whatever that was, I'm sure that giant bird thing did it, I don't think it wants us to follow it and right now I'm thinking that following something like that when it can procure jutsu like that is a suicidal action. Did any of you see who was riding on that things' back?" asked the silver haired anbu.

"Two teenage females, two adult females and one little girl on the birds head. I could be mistaken but I thought I saw Tsunade's trademark attire one on of them." one of the purples haired nin reported. The silver haired anbu, obviously the leader, froze a moment.

"That's not good, we need to report this citing to the Hokage immediately." He commanded. Without a word they broke out into a dead run towards the Hidden Leaf Village.

Back in the Spirit village Naruto was overlooking a few documents with different deal arrays displayed on them. A knock at the door disrupted his musing however; Naruto set the two arrays to the side and called whoever it was to enter.

"Lord Reikage, you summoned me?" Kazumi asked.

"Yes please come in take a seat." He said waving her in, Kazumi closing the door behind her.

"Please don't take this the wrong way or anything Sensei but you are quite old yes? In your years you've seen and heard things abroad?" he asked.

"Get to the point Naruto." She butted in. She didn't like people talking about her age.

"What can you tell me about the Hidden Star Village in the Land of Bears?" the question threw her for a loop, out of all the questions he was going to ask this wasn't one of them.

"Why?" she asked perplexed.

"Word of our village's unique type of jutsu has spread over the continent. The Hidden Star village has sent nin to gain information on how we've been able to mimic their type of unique Chakra Release; as far as accusing us of harboring a rogue nin from their village. Naturally I told them to get screwed and we weren't harboring any missing nin from their village but they insist that if I don't confess my transgressions they'll go to the BBF and have them declare open season on me, not going into the whole 'They're trying to make themselves one of the major powers in the land to be included in the group that share the title Kage' and by declaring war on us they'd finally get to show the BBF that they're forth something." Naruto explained. Kazumi's eyes widened a fraction at the information bombarding her and took a moment to sort in her head.

"The Hidden Star Village and the land of Bears respectively, are known to have meteor showers every few decades or so, hence their namesake as the Hidden Star village. They came into the possession of a unique meteorite that gave off unique radiation and gave those who were given a dose of the stars energy a unique type of chakra release not like the five element releases commonly known throughout the world, aside from our own. The drawback, they realized later was that the radiation from the meteorite was poisonous and slowly killed anyone that had any contact with it whatsoever, so, for the people's safety the meteorite training was discontinued."

"They want us to stop because they think we're killing ourselves, thinking we have a fallen star of our own somehow?" Naruto asked bewildered.

"I believe that to be the case from what you have told me. Of course I understand we cannot just tell them how we've come to possess the chakra release that we do…" she trailed off.

"Because it's a village secret." Naruto supplied.

"Exactly, so it leaves you with few options in how to deal with the issue at hand. You can declare war on them and wipe them from the continent, eliminating their opposition all together and we could claim their place as the Sixth Hidden village nation."

"But that course of action leaves us little maneuverability with the other great nations, we won't be able to hide the fact that we have all but one of the tailed beasts hidden here for very long if we did that; considering that we'd have to use a few of them to annihilate Star quickly. We'd be able to escape Mist's scrutiny because we're secret allies with them but the other four countries would get suspicious and it would be game over."

"The second option would be to go into negotiations with Hidden Star to forge an alliance; this way you can reveal a small fraction on how we've achieved our trademark Chakra release and they can gain a powerful ally that will bolster both of our standing with the other Nations on the continent." Kazumi added sagely.

"I like the second option better than the first, though the first would guarantee that the problem was dealt with it would have warning signs blaring in the minds of the other nations on the continent and we can't have that. The other me is probably a 4 hour flight away to the land of Bears if I go right now at top speed, I wonder if those with me will be happy with the change of course?" he pondered with a grin.

"The sooner you clear this mess with Star up the better of you'll be, I'll leave you to your work." Kazumi said standing up to leave. Naruto on the other hand held up his hand.

"If I could impose a little bit more of your time sensei, I have a few seals I'd like you to look over; it's what I was doing before you came in." Naruto asked taking out the two scrolls he was looking at previously.

"I see no reason why not, so what is it you've been working on this time?" she asked walking over to the opposite side of the desk to take a look at the scroll Naruto was unfurling.

"I've been thinking about terrain altering seals for in battle advantages; change the surrounding battlefield to better suit the circumstance." Naruto explained as Kazumi looked aver each array.

"You want to fill the seal tags with different chakra elements to transform the surrounding terrain into the tags designated element or sub-element?" she asked after a moment.

"The design can be done by hand, all it takes is for the right chakra release to be sealed inside the tag, after that anything the tags attached to when it's activated will temporarily transform into the element."

"Then what seems to be the problem, this seems to be able to do as you describe." Kazumi inquired, after surmising that the seal arrays were all in the correct order for Naruto to accomplish the desired outcome.

"The problem lies in the duration there's no limit to how much power the seal releases; the ground only changes for a few seconds before the tag's depleted of its power. If I write in a limiter seal on the other hand the whole array becomes unbalanced and it becomes nothing but a supped up explosive tag."

"Hmm, I cannot think up a solution currently but I will give this some more thought at a later date when I have more time," she glanced at the clock on the wall. "If I don't hurry I'll be late to teach my early afternoon bunch of little rug rats at the Dojo in the other half of the village." She said moving to the door.

"Yes they can get quite restless when they're kept too long, be well." Naruto said as Kazumi left his office.

Back with Naruto's other half Naruto's massive bird form slowed to a crawl.

"Hey what gives, why'd you stop? Aren't we in a hurry?" Tsunade questioned.

"I need to take a trip to the Land of Bears to see the Hidden Star village." He explained.

"Yay! Adventure!" Squealed Hanabi.

"An energetic and enthusiastic Hyuuga, that's going to take a while to get used to." Shizune commented wearily.

"I'm not a Hyuuga! I'm a Namikaze!" Hanabi cried indignantly.

"Why so you have to go see them now? Weren't we going back to your village first?" Tsunade asked Naruto, ignoring Hanabi's whole byplay.

"They believe we've stolen their Chakra release with the use of a meteor like them, I'm going to explain to them that in exchange for us revealing the secret to our signature Chakra release they would have to become allies with us or snuffed out. I'd make the Kyuubi attack on the Leaf village 10 years ago seem like a sneezing fit in comparison." Naruto paused suddenly making everyone tense, without Naruto's consistent flapping they would drop out of the sky; at this height nothing they would do would save them.

"Dad!" Hanabi cried smacking Naruto's head soundly. They began falling through the sky at a fantastic speed though surprisingly no one felt any G's being pulled from the fall. Then as suddenly as the falling started it stopped and Naruto continued on.

"What the hell was that?" Shizune cried in surprise and shock.

"Begging your pardon Miss Shizune but one of my spy flies was just destroyed, its location just took a bit of time to locate." Naruto revealed.

"So, what does that mean, where did it come from?" Tsunade queried.

"The coast near the continent, close to the Hidden Mist." Naruto said in a rushed tone.

"Why do you sound so concerned or alarmed?" Shizune asked, much more attentive because Naruto seemed agitated.

"My village plays host to 8 of the 9 tailed beasts of legend, like I said before; I've scoured the continent and neighboring islands except the Land of Fire to find the one missing tailed beast. I just found him." Naruto answered.

"That's good then isn't it?" Isaribi asked hopefully.

"Under normal circumstances yes, but he's not in a mood to chat, he's in the middle of a fleeing fight; it seems as though Akatsuki have somehow located the host and are trying to incapacitate him…looks like we're not going to the Land of Bears after all. I hope that this guy can hold out till we can get there."

"Did you get a look at who it was that was attacking?" Tsunade asked. Naruto shook his head.

"All I could make out were the cloaks identifying them as Akatsuki. We have to get there as fast as possible, I'm on my way with my other body … I can't take any chances with this as we might not get another chance at this." Naruto replied, all business, none of his previous attitude present in his speech.

"Isn't that a bit reckless, you'd be giving these guys who are looking for you up on a silver platter." Tsunade cautioned.

"I'm not going by myself, Roushi, Fu and Bee are coming with me, we have to kill off as many of these guys as possible when the opportunity presents itself. All of Akatsuki members are ranked S Class in the Bingo Book but not even they are strong enough to withstand an attack from 4 tailed beasts at once." Naruto insisted. "Unless Madara's there… then we might be in trouble." Naruto muttered.

"Wait a moment, did you just say Madara? As in Uchiha Madara, cofounder of the Leaf village?" Tsunade questioned quickly, no small amount of fear creeping into her words.

"The Progenitor of the Sharingan, Madara Uchiha is alive; Hitomi told me so, that it was by his will that she attacked the Leaf village for the second time when my father was Hokage." Naruto answered.

"How could be possibly be alive? My Grandfather the First Hokage killed him at what's now called the Valley of the End!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"And what do you mean for the second time, the Kyuubi only attacked the Leaf village once." Added Shizune.

"What the History books don't say is that Madara, with the use of a mutated for of the Sharingan, tried to get Hitomi to raze Konoha to the ground, the First Hokage intervened and stopped her from ever being sighted be the village. Afterwards history says that the First killed Madara at the Valley of the End at the cost of his life, Hitomi says that the First only severally crippled Madara and it was only because of his mutated Sharingan that the ancient Uchiha survived the battle." Naruto explained.

"**The rest you know, Madara was able to gain control over me a second time, only this time there was no Senju to release the control the Sharingan had over me and sent me to lay waste to the Leaf village." **Finished Hitomi.

"Which led to the Fourth sealing you into Naruto." Tsunade said a sense of understanding wash over her as she began to see the picture that Naruto and Hitomi were illustrating.

"**We can only guess that Madara's mutated Sharingan has granted him with a crude form of immortality; though he is but a shell of his former self, with the power of the Sharingan that hardly means anything."** Hitomi hypothesized.

"If we get the chance to, we'll exterminate that bloodline so that nothing like this can ever happen again; that power is corrupt and cannot continue to exist. Luckily for us Itachi has already done almost the entire job for us, all that's left are Itachi's little brother and Madara himself, oh and anyone else that has a transplanted Sharingan, we can't forget them." Naruto added quickly.

"What about Itachi?" Shizune querried.

"He's a turncoat for Akatsuki, I've sealed away his Sharingan so only he can use it; should he have children however they will not inherit those cursed eyes, I sealed his bloodline away at a cellular level." Naruto answered.

"Shouldn't he be going to fight then? He'd have information you could use and skills you don't possess making your fight with these Akatsuki easier." Tsunade suggested.

"That has been suggested but Itachi cannot reveal his allegiance to me and my village yet, his treachery to Madara cannot be revealed until our major début with the other nations in a Chuunin selection exam to be held in the Leaf village in two years. Besides he's currently semi crippled, he was temporarily blind after the sealing and won't be in top condition for at least I week. Once there at the Chuunin exam we can mop up the rest of the stragglers with the Sharingan eye. Itachi has staked his claim on Sasuke which leaves us with those with a transplanted Sharingan. Luckily for us we don't have to kill those with a transplant, we just have to alter the chakra in the eyes that were transplanted, or forcefully deactivate the Sharingan in their eye socket."

"How would that solve the problem, wouldn't they simply be able to reactivate it?" Shizune asked puzzled.

"A person with a transplant Sharingan has to keep it covered till they need to use it, because they're not blood Uchiha and the eyes is not a natural part of their body the chakra pathways to the eyes are only one way, they wouldn't be able to reactivate the Sharingan because the eye needs the original owner's chakra to trigger the change." Tsunade answered in Naruto's stead.

"And as far as I know there is only one person with a Sharingan transplant so we don't actually have to go very far when the time comes." Naruto added.

"Kakashi Hatake." Shizune whispered.

"Lord Reikage how far are you from the battle from our home?" Isaribi asked suddenly.

"All of us are in our transformed states, so I'd say about 15 minutes tops; I don't have any eyes nearby to see how the six tails is coping, I can only hope that we'll get there before it's too late."

Things weren't looking good for Utakata, first he had been spotted by hunter nins again prompting him to start running, then the hunter nins dropped off his radar and two new pursuers joined the chase. Not wanting to find out who they were or what they wanted Utakata did what he had been doing a lot these past few years, he ran. Using his Floating Bubble Technique, Utakata hopped inside the huge soap bubble and started to float away inside it, his bubble blower still in his mouth just in case. Utakata also camouflaged the bubble he was in as it floated away into the air to further hide himself from his pursuers.

"Hey Kazuzu," Utakata heard below him. "Did you see any fucking thing, we can't lose our fucking target or Leader will get really fucking upset that we weren't able to fucking catch the only fucking demon host that hasn't dropped off the face of the fucking continent." A white haired scythe wielding man in a black robe with red clouds yelled.

'So that's why they're after me, they want the beast trapped inside my body, but why do they want the beast?' Utakata thought as he listened in from high above. A second individual, wearing the same getup as the first, broke through the tree line; this one wearing an old fashioned Waterfall head plate with a slash going through the middle. Then the words of the scythe wielder registered in his head.

'I'm the only one they could find? From what I was told there are supposed to be nine of us in total, where the hell are they?' Utakata wondered.

"I can't see him anywhere Hiden, he cannot have gone far because he's not that fast so I'm thinking that he's hiding somewhere close by using one of those irritating bubbles, like those Hunter nin said he could do. And Stop fucking swearing."

"Why'd you kill them little shits again? They could have been used as offerings to Lord Jashin."

"They were attempting to collect the bounty, in a way; I simply got rid of the competition, and your fucked up religion has no place in our objective." Utakata watched stunned as Hiden cleaved Kazuzu's head clean off, only for it to be reattached via a string of black tendrils. "On to more important matters, before I killed them I got them to squeal about all the information about our target. It appears he needs a pipe thingy for his jutsu to work so if we get rid of that then we can capture him easily. The downside to his jutsu, at least I think it's a downside is that because his techniques are bubbles they're affected by the wind the same as regular, stupid, bubbles. So we just have to change the current of the winds for him to lose control of the jutsu." Kakuzu tilted his head skywards doing several hand seals. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he called, moving his head in a circle to encompass the immediate area.

'Shit!' thought Utakata as he felt his bubble begin to sway in the now violent wind. 'This is bad…Crap!' he cried as his bubble gave way, it seemed as though his fatigue from running and hiding earlier in the day was catching up to him, giving him less control over his jutsu. With a single pop his floating bubble gave way and he began falling to the ground.

"Looks like one of your fucked up worked for a change, I can see him now." Hiden yelled as he ran towards Utakata's landing zone, Kakuzu following right behind him. Fortunately for Utakata he had been in situations like this before and used his bubble blower to create a series of large bubbles right below him. As he slammed right through them he could feel the rush of the wind in his ears lessen, meaning he was successfully slowing down enough that he wasn't going to die on impact with the ground. He repeated the process a few more times, enough for him to land on his feet without great difficulty. When he looked about his surroundings however he instinctively took a step back, Hiden and Kakuzu had followed his fall trajectory.

"Looks like your fucking good luck streak ends here, six tails. Come with us quietly and we might not have to get _rough_." Hiden said tossing his scythe up and down in his hands.

"Soap Bubble Ninjutsu: Smokescreen Bubbles!" Utakata called blowing dozens of bubbles towards the pair that exploded into white, concealing smoke on contact.

"Soap Bubble Ninjutsu: Acid Permeation! Soap Bubble Ninjutsu: Soap Bubble Slime! Soap Bubble Ninjutsu: Exploding Bubbles!" Utakata said stringing three on his specialized jutsu together, through he was slightly out of breath afterwards from blowing so much to make his bubbles. An array of explosions went off creating a cloud of dust into the air. A small just of wind blew through the area seconds later, blowing the smokescreen away revealing the two targets. Both of Utakata's opponents cloaks were slightly wrecked having been burnt away from Utakata's acid bubbles, their faces looked slightly singed from the exploding Bubbles and they had green slime covering various parts of their body.

"That tickled." Stated Kakuzu as he tried to move but couldn't. "What the heck is this slime? I can't move!" the Ex waterfall nin exclaimed as he struggled to get free of the green slime.

"Bubble Art: Drowning Bubble!" Utakata quickly let off his jutsu which ensnared both Hiden and Kakuzu's heads, leaving them to drown trying to escape the slime and try to breathe in air where there wasn't any. Utakata breathed a sigh of relief; he hadn't thought he'd survive the encounter. Putting his bubble blower to his mouth yet again, he began molding chakra for his Ink Bubble explosion technique to get rid of the bodies, when the bodies in front of him disintegrated the water suffocating them sloshing to the ground. The next thing he knew his blower was snatched from his person, his alarm bells screaming danger.

"What do you know, this guy really is worth the money on his head, after all he was able to kill our clones." He heard Kakuzu say from behind him.

'They were…clones all this time?' Utakata stammered in his head, turning his head to see a completely unharmed and undamaged pair behind him. 'They were behind me all this time?'

"We've let you play long enough, now its time to take you in, get you're beast extracted." Hiden said smirking all the while.

"The process will kill you of course but we have our orders." Kakuzu said as he walked casually towards Utakata.

'I'm really going to die…' Utakata thought, his inner voice drowning out everything else.

"You know I'm a little disappointed that we didn't see any of the demons power, which would have made things at least a little bit of a challenge." Hiden whined.

"Shut the fuck up Hiden, I've had it with your constant jabbering about Jashin this and Jashin that, I can't handle your fucking wining!" Kakuzu spat which earned him a scythe in the chest from Hiden.

"Don't disrespect Lord Jashin or I'll kill you!" Hiden yelled.

"As if you could." Snapped Kakuzu. Of course Utakata wasn't hearing any of this, his mind only focusing on the fact that he was going to die at the hands these two.

'I'm so screwed, there's nothing I can do that'll get me out of this.' Utakata thought franticly. His heightened emotions and frantic thought process had awoken the demon inside him, the demon's chakra beginning to seep out forming a red shroud around Utakata's body.

'**I will not go back, I refuse to go back to that union, I won't allow it!'** Utakata heard in his head before his energy output skyrocketed. The eruption of chakra halted the two Akatsuki from their arguing, both turning to see a crouching Utakata.

"Well what do you know I spoke too soon, this'll be fun!" Hiden said, his excitement easy for anyone to see, fortunately for him though Utakata's thought process had seized and was currently unfocused leading the now empowered Utakata to start thrashing around, completely out of control in a 4 tailed state.

"Shut up Hiden!" spat Kazuku before he removed his Akatsuki cloak and a large creature composed of black tendrils wearing a mask grew beside the ex-Waterfall nin. "Wind Release: Pressure Damage jutsu!" a white mass of wind chakra began to compress till it was released, slamming into the transformed demon container. The jutsu caused Utakata to shriek in pain as the tornado caused by the technique attacked him relentlessly, lifting him off the ground. Another creature sprouted from Kazuku's side suddenly. "Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work jutsu!" a moderate sized fireball launched itself from the second tentril creature and impacted Kakuzu's earlier jutsu causing a drastic increase in the immediate areas temperature, the transformed Utakata shrieking even more as the demon cloak surrounding him faught against the flames which had been amplified with the wind element jutsu.

"The leader will kill us if we damage it too badly you imbecile!" Hiden shouted. "Stop showing off for fucks sake!"

"Alright already, I was just trying to make up for the fact that there wasn't any money involved with the capture…" Kakuzu shot back as he let the jutsu dissipate, reapplying his Akatsuki cloak after recalling his tendril creatures. The flames from Kakuzu's attack were shrinking, revealing a still standing but severally weakened, disorientated and naked Utakata.

"That's fucking gross, man. You burnt off his clothes." Hiden spat out as he approached the swaying ex Mist nin to knock him out for transport back to a base for extraction of the demon inside him.

"Magma Release: Magma Geyser!" an eruption of liquid hot fire erupted from the ground right in front of Hiden, the boiling mix splashing right into Hiden's face.

"AHHHHH! My eyes, my eyes are fucking burning!" Hiden screamed, toppling over onto the ground clutching his face.

"Ink saliva!" a black glob shot towards Kakuzu who had enough time to sprout a Water Release: Water encampment wall quick enough to intercept the ink projectile, though it didn't look like it's withstand much due to the ink mixed into it. Kakuzu held the water wall up but due to the ink was unable to predict what was going to happen next because he couldn't see through the mix of water and ink. "Headbutt!" two hors smashed through the water wall and lunged themselves into Kakuzu's chest, piercing his original heart that held his Water Release element. The horns seemed to then evaporate and Kakuzu's attacker seemed to vanish just as the hole in Kakuzu's chest started to stitch itself closed.

"He's all set Lord Reikage, we better get going though, he doesn't look so hot." The voodoo like nin heard from not too far away.

"Right then, Roushi, an exit if you please?"

"Magma Release: Volcanic ash!" No sooner did Kakuzu get a glimpse of the newcomers the entire area was blanketed in a heavy sheet of ash, obscuring Kazuku's vision yet again. Hiden on the other hand was still rolling on the ground next to a puddle of rapidly cooling magma clutching his face, the ash almost completely concealing him. Though visibility was incredibly poor Kakuzu was still able to make out several shapes in the distance, one large creature and three others that were securing the six tailed host. He saw the large creature spread massive wings before shooting up into the sky, quickly gaining distance from the two Akatsuki. As his visibility improved Kakuzu turned to his partner who had ceased his wails.

"Let's go Hiden, we've failed our mission." Kakuzu said after a moment.

"My eyes fucking hurt!" Hiden said, completely missing Kakuzu's last statement.

"Naturally, you just had magma in them."

Naruto was flying as fast as he could back to the village.

"How is he?"

"Not great, that explosion we felt was the releasing of the six tails' power, more than half I'd say with the condition he's in. He'll need to be treated for chakra burns and chakra exhaustion." Fu analyzed.

"That's good then, we have a world renowned medic inbound as we speak on board my other body, they'll meet up with us soon." Naruto replied.

"What's bothering you Roushi, you seem a bit lost there." Fu asked seeing the red headed mans unfocused gaze on the unconscious host next to him.

"Something about the way that the Six tails' power erupted from this man, it felt like the demon was frightened, frantic about something…" the ex Rock nin murmured.

"Eight O's saying the samo, perhaps it had just woken up from its sleep after being sealed away." Theorized Kirabe.

"In that case we better watch how we tread with this guy, if we surprise him and give him reason to panic he might cause the six tails' power to flare up again, and after what happened last time with Fu and the Nanabi I don't want a repeat performance if it can be helped." Naruto stated.

"So what, don't ask him anything when he wakes up?" Fu asked skeptically.

"If it comes to that but I'm hoping that he'll be able to understand what's going on without too much fuss and if he does we'll all just have to tag team him…especially if the demon is uncooperative like Gobi was when I first found him. Both of them have to take up residence in our village, it is the only safe place for us and others like us."

"I just remembered something," Naruto piped up alerting his passengers. "There are a few others in my village that need a thorough medical examination, some of them are past experiments like Isaribi but some of them are bloodline refugees from Mist."Naruto said suddenly, getting Tsunade's and Shizune's attention.

"Your talking about Bone Guy, aren't you dad?" Hanabi interrupted.

"Yes I'm talking about Kimimaru, and don't interrupt me when I'm talking Hanabi, its very rude."

"Who's Kimmimaru?" Shizune asked the two girls sitting next to her while Naruto was giving a lecture on manners to his daughter.

"He is the sole survivor of an entire clan from the Land of Water that wielded the Dead Bone Pulse bloodline, his names Kimmimaru Kaguya. Mist ninja picked him up and decided to give him over to us, partly because we were allies but also because when we became allies with Hidden Mist Lord Reikage insisted that he take any and all unwanted bloodline users from them for their own well being, he explained that after the bloodline purges of one of the previous Mizukage they wouldn't want to live in a village that feared them utterly." Isaribi explained.

"Why would I need to examine him?" Tsunade asked.

"He's got some sort of disease that starting to kill him and Lord Reikage is weary about doing anything till he knows exactly what it is, the best we can tell the disease isn't fatal quite yet but it could get to that stage soon." Rei explained.

"First of all however, you'll have to examine the host of the six tails we've just rescued, he's currently unconscious and has rather extensive chakra burns all over his body, his body erupted with demonic energy, which if you don't know how to use properly will shorten your lifespan over time every time you use it. From his current condition I can safely say he's never used any before, at least not like he had used it, and to use as much as he did, well…" Naruto trailed off.

"Yeah I get the picture." Tsunade muttered, gloomy at the prospect of more work, and complex work at that which was even worse.

"Cheer up Great Grandma! When life gets you down, eat ramen, an we have the mostest, awesomest ramen place back home!" Hanabi cheered striking the air with a fist.

"It's 'most awesome', Hanabi." Corrected Naruto causing Hanabi to pout cutely making everyone else laugh.

"You're just saying that because you can't eat it anymore." Hanabi said sticking her tongue out at her father causing even more laughs.

The first thing that Utakata was aware of was the sterile smell of a hospital and that he was immobile. Immediately his mind began to think up scenarios that would explain his situation. Trying to open his eyes, and failing, Utataka surmised that he had been under for quite a while and was quite weak as a consequence; if he couldn't open his eyes then he as reasonably certain that the rest of his body was out of the picture as well.

'Well at least I'm still alive,' he winced in pain as his body throbbed. 'So I must've been saved from those two freaks…' he groaned as feeling returned to his extremities. 'Though I can't for the life of me remember what happened after that power surge I felt.' Utakata thought as pins and needles settled into his body parts causing no end of discomfort to him.

'**Way to go meat bag, you went and got us captured.'** The former Mist nin heard in his head, the same voice as last time. **'Now were sitting ducks because your puny body can't handle my power very well.' ** The sound of a door opening and closing hit Utakata's ears prompting the quick silencing of the bubble users' inner demon. There was a rustling of papers and a few flicks of certain switches before he heard anything more.

"Hmm, it seems your coming along quite well," the nurse's voice broke the silence. "We might just be able to start giving you chakra infusions to boost your healing rate soon to get you out of here sooner…I'll be back shortly so don't move around too much till then alright?" there was a shuffle before the nurse left, leaving Utakata alone once again.

_"Lord Reikage, Sir!"_ the nurse said in the hallway just outside Utakata's room, touching the seal on her arm. _"Your guest is conscious."_

"_Very good, thank you for informing me, I'll be there shortly."_ Naruto's reply sounded in her head.

_"Lord Reikage, may I request a chakra infusion to be done before anything else, if only so he can actually talk when you meet him."_ The nurse added.

"_Good idea, it wouldn't do well for us to have our new recruit to be non responsive when we speak for the first time."_

_"Sir?"_ the nurse asked bewildered.

"_Did I stutter? He is the six tailed demon's host, so naturally he'll be joining our ranks. Have all his personal effects presented for after my meeting with him, I'm sure he'll appreciate changing out of that gown." _

_"Right away sir!"_ the nurse replied, taking her hand from her seal on her wrist, cutting the connection before going to do as directed.

Hours later

Naruto was currently in his office with Kazumi, Tsunade and Shizune, the first two explaining the works of their village and how its run. They'd covered most of the essential stuff about the village and were now going over what they were going to do about the Hidden Star Village's message; before Naruto suddenly shot up from his chair and headed to the door.

"What's going on?" Shizune asked, intrigued by the abrupt move.

"The host for the last remaining tailed beast is conscious; I'm going to go talk with him." Naruto opened the door and walked through it. Naruto's face morphed from the back of his head. "All of you are welcome to join me, if you wish." He added. The three ladies in the office followed him out the office to the building foyer, where in the center was a white circle with a diameter of several meters, an intricate panel right next to it on the wall. Naruto stood on the white disk, followed by Kazumi, Tsunade and Shizune.

"What does this thing do?" Shizune asked.

"In every sector if the village lays one of these disks, they're a vast network of transporters that allow for quick movement throughout the village. One of these happens to be at the reception desk at the hospital on the ground floor." Naruto explained.

"Of course slice there is only one in each sector, there are multiple transits going at the same time to the same location so-" a bright beam of light encompassed them before they vanished.

"Sometimes the travel is a bit delayed…"Kazumi finished staring at the foyer of the hospital.

"I can see that." Tsunade grumbled as she tried to settle her swimming head, Shizune doing the same.

"Don't worry too much about that, it'll pass in a moment or so." Naruto answered the two medic nins silent question of why they were disorientated. A moment later the four of them left the foyer to move to the patient rooms.

Utakata heard his door open yet again, this time multiple persons coming into the room.

"If one of you kind ladies could assist in fixing him to he could see and speak that would be great, I'm sure that he's a bit miffed at not being able to see who's talking about him." Utakata grunted in confirmation before he felt the warm touch of medical chakra being administered to his head and throat. Opening his eyes for the first time since he got here Utakata was blasted with four blurry images, slowly coming into focus.

"Wha…?" he asked dumfounded as he saw Tsunade standing nearby. "What the hells going on, why the hell am I in the Land of Fire?"

"Your not in the Land of Fire, your in the Land of Sea, in my village…the Hidden Spirit Village; it's a safe haven for outcasts and what the general population would consider freaks or monsters." The one wearing a mask said. The elderly lady beside him cleared her throat. "Oh right, where are my manners, My names Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, the First Reikage and the host to the ninth tailed Beast of legend." A flux of chakra from Utakata stopped Naruto's speech in its tracks.

"**You won't take me back, I won't give up this form of life, I will not go back to unification!"** Utakata growled out, his demons energies coming to the surface once again, a red cloak of chakra surrounding him.

"Hey! Calm down a moment you two! I have no idea what the heck you're talking about!" Naruto said quickly.

"**Don't play dumb with me! I know that you want to fuse all nine of us back to our original form, that's the only reason you've kept me alive isn't it?" **Naruto's form shimmered, changing to that of Hitomi.

"**What the hell are you talking about you bloody mollusk? We just want to shield ourselves from those people that were trying to capture you and the best way we can do that is to have all nine of us in the same place, hidden away so we can't be picked off one at a time by Akatsuki!"** Hitomi yelled.

"**You think you can fool me? I remember what it was like before the nine were created, split from the one so the world would be saved from it's wrath, all you want to do is use me to reawaken the One, I won't do it."** The newly possessed Utakata snarled as he made a break for the window, jumping from the bed. As soon as his feet connected with the floor however he slumped to the floor in a heap. Tsunade made a move to pick him up but Naruto stopped her with a tail wrapped around her wrist.

"Don't touch him when he's like this Grandma, the cloak will burn you if you touch it." Naruto said. Tsunade and Shizune backed off, giving Naruto the chance to hoist Utakata up with his tail, placing him back on his bed. Right after that however, Hitomi reappeared, who was nose to nose with Utakata.

"**Now start talking, what the fuck do you mean by unification and the One?"** Demanded Hitomi. Utakata chuckled madly at this.

"**You mean you don't know, you really don't remember?"** he asked between mad burst of laughter. Hitomi slapped him three times to get him to shut up.

"**What the hell you talking about? Remember what?" **

"**The nine tailed beasts were not always; we were once all One, though we had no consciousness and just raged on without end." **Utakata said, his cackling slowly disappearing.** "Then the one with ringed eyes came and sealed the One away, sent his body into the sky and split it into nine pieces that would then be known as the nine tailed beasts, one to nine, all holding within them a fraction of the One's enormous power, over time we were able to develop an intelligence, a mind of our own where once there was none."**

"**That's not possible, we always were, we can't have been…"** Hitomi stammered.

"**And if we were to be reunited then the ten tails would be revived and our individuality would be destroyed like it never existed. I will not lose my individuality! I refuse!" **Utakata said getting worked up again. Tails lashed out from Hitomi's backside, tying Utakata to the bed.

"**Listen here you idiot!"** she yelled right into his ear. **"Weather or not you're telling the truth, I… we do not wish for a union, none of us want to fuse into some ten tailed maniac! We have lives; friends and we are not going to give that up! I'm not going to give up my baby for anything! You hear me? We don't want anything of what you're saying, we just want to protect ourselves from the Akatsuki…"** Hitomi's eyes went wide. **"Oh…shit…."**

"What? What is it?" Tsunade asked quickly.

"**That's what they want us for, Akatsuki want the nine of us to reawaken the ten tailed beast…"** there was a tense silence as everyone digested this information.

"Oh god, I'm going to need some sake after this." Grumbled Tsunade before she went rigid. "You said that Madara's still alive, right? Then he might be part of Akatsuki, with his Sharingan he'd be able to control the ten tails just like he did to Hitomi 10 years ago and back during the time of my Grandfather."

"Oh Fuck…"

"Kakuzu, report!" the hologram of Pein demanded.

"Mission failed Leader, sir. The Six tails was snatched away from us just as we were about to knock it out and bring it to the extraction point."

"That is not acceptable Kakuzu, that was the only tailed beast that we've been able to locate without Zetsu who has gone off the radar. You and Hiden are to return to base for further instructions."

"As you wish." Kakuzu droned before the hologram disappeared.

"The Six tails has vanished just like the other eight." Pein recited to the masked Madara. Killing intent exploded from the masked Sharingan wielder.

"This is impossible! Where the hell are they all? I feel as though I'm being played like a chump." raged the ancient Uchiha, smashing creators into the underground foundations of the hideout causing several tremors throughout the dark cavern.

* * *

AN: Now I'm sure to receive a few comments on how things were too easy, i.e Tsunade deciding to go with Naruto so quickly, complaints that Hiden and Kakuzu don't act like how I wrote them acting, or that Naruto's 'too powerful'. If your one of those people then you can go jump into a volcano because I already know that, but as I said this was a hard chapter to write so I had to make a few compremises here and there to get the story rolling, if you don't like it still you can either get over it or get screwed coz I really don't care, I'm not writing this for you I'm writing it for me.

Now with all that grumbling out of the way, its time for me, like everyone else that writes chapters for their story, to ask you, the readers to leave a review on the chapter or the story in general, something you liked about the chapter, something I could do better at, or something you would like to see happen in the coming chapters (note that any suggestion is liable to be disregarded at any time, though it's the only shot you have at trying to shape how the story goes.)

Should I have made any grammar, spelling, or some other kind of error(which i know I have, just can't see them), do please point them out, I hate leaving a mess, when it can be fixed.

Oh and one more thing, if you've lasted this long and are still reading, if anyone has a better name to give this chapter, please send me a PM, the people I usually turn to for these things haven't been all that helpful as of late.


	13. From Spirit to Hidden Leaf

AN: Hey everyone, I'm back with a new Chapter, i know some of you will be a bit put off my the length but it's honestly getting harder to write longer chapters.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter, don't forget to review.

* * *

"Alright Naruto its time for our final session, when this is all over you'll have complete control of all my chakra, we'll go through the process like normal, I'll leak it slowly so that you don't become overwhelmed and your physical form will undergo it's final change." Hitomi instructed from inside her chambers inside of Naruto's mindscape.

"That's when my chakra condenses so much it becomes matter right? I'll have a bone structure and everything once again?" Naruto asked directly opposite her.

"Almost. We've talked about could happen with you're body when I have to give birth to our little girl and I'll have to be outside when that happens, what I'm concerned about is that if you absorb the ninth tail completely you'll lose your shape shifting talents because of you're chakra turning your body into matter instead of energy. There isn't a single human alive that can say that they've undergone a transformation like this before so we're flying completely blind, taking in the ninth tail completely could change your body to matter but it might not, there's no way to know for certain." Hitomi explained.

"Then I believe it would be safer for the four of us, You, Hanabi, the baby and I if we do the melding of the ninth tail to 75% so that I can retain my shape shifting ability and to make sure that we don't set off my father's seal which undoubtedly has a few safety measures if almost all nine tails of your power is unleashed into my system. Does that sound alright to you?" suggested Naruto. Hitomi nodded comfortably.

"That sounds like the best course of action for us right now; it'll take a few minutes for me to gather the amount of chakra to that exact amount, when I have it you'll need to be here for several days for it to settle in properly." Hitomi said seriously. Naruto just nodded his understanding.

"I'll need to fix up few things first beforehand…tell me when you're ready to begin." Naruto told her before he vanished to let Hitomi get started.

Unspecified Amount of Time Later

It had taken Itachi only couple days to become accustomed to seeing a different face whenever he looked at a mirror but compared to how easy that had been for him it had taken him months to become accustomed to the way his chakra felt now that it didn't flow through a network and even longer to be able to grasp the concept of using it for battle. Naturally his chakra nature was of the fire element which Itachi had been lead to believe that all the jutsu of the other elements Lightning, Water, Earth and Wind he had copied and later on learnt were all lost to him. A few days after he had been made aware of this fact he had sought out Roshi who was of the same element release as him, who had explained to him that his chakra would only take on the fire affinity only when Itachi himself needed it to be and that he could mould chakra without the Fire element mixed in after enough training and practice. He had also explained that whilst he might find it difficult to separate the fire nature from his chakra he might decide later on to just keep the Fire nature mixed in at all times, if only to reap the rewards of harnessing sub elements attributed with mixing his Fire chakra with other elements, giving Naruto's Fire Style: Great Breakthrough as an example.

"Besides it might be possible to use other chakra natures easier due to those eyes of yours, you never know." Itachi remembered the red head saying, before telling him if he wanted a bit more advice, to seek out Gaara who had managed to mix different elements into his sand to create lava and mud chakra releases.

"You're chakra will come out with attributes to you're primary affinity anyway, if you try for a water type technique with a fire affinity it'll come out boiling hot, a wind jutsu will come out like a heat wave and your target will feel like they're in a desert…the possibilities are only limited to your imagination, and you're control of course." The red head boy had said to him which id what led him to be at the training grounds in the outermost area of the village as he went about calling his chakra thinking to try an earth based technique. With the aid of his Sharingan his progress had increased in his manipulating of his energies but Itachi wasn't going to quit till he was able to control his power on a whim like the 8 hosts, Gobi had also excelled in his training and was now able to change his form to a dog human hybrid that was capable of proper human interaction but said after that that was as far as he was gong to go.

"Master Shinko Kougi, sir!" a voice broke him from his thoughts before he turned to face the newcomer, a runner, who's primary role was to run around the village to fetch people for someone else, highly respected because of their speed.

"What is it?" Itachi asked turning to meet the runner. Naruto had told Itachi to pick his own name to go with his new look because he couldn't be bothered thinking one up for him.

"Master…a request for assistance has come through just moments ago from Hidden Mist, Lord Reikage has issued you with the mission to assist. Runners have already been dispatched to ready you're squad as I speak." The runner explained. Shinko sighed, it seemed as though his training would have to wait a bit longer.

"Understood. You're dismissed." Shinko said with a wave, the runner vanishing with a pinch of ninja smoke. Shinko checked his gear briefly before he too vanished.

Village gate, Civilian side

15 year old Kimmimaru Kaguya leant against the stone walls of the village, draped in a loose fitting open chest white top with black silky pants that looked like they were made of black water, with plain sandals finishing his look, his white hair parted with a zigzag through the middle with his hair tied in several braids of different lengths, framing his pale face with two simple red dots near the center of his brow, his eyes green with a red rim surrounding them. Since he had joined the Hidden Spirit ninja corps a couple years ago he had become good friends with his teammates Isaribi and Rei and cemented with them a deep bond of trust, which was all that Naruto needed to fit the three of them into a team.

"Hey Bones!" Rei called suddenly, getting Kimmimaru to snap his head in her direction, several meters from him sitting on the dirt.

"You two won't ever stop calling me that will you?" Kimmimaru groaned out.

"Nope, you'll always be Bones to us!" Isaribi answered vibrantly for Rei.

"Anyway, how was you're appointment with Lady Tsunade earlier?" Rei asked prompting the white haired teen to raise an eyebrow.

"Tsunade said that my condition is improving steadily, if I hadn't been treated as soon as I was then there wouldn't have been anything she could have done for me. I only have two more appointments with her left till she can completely rid my body of my ailment." He answered.

"Oh good, we can't have you dying from a dumb disease, after all who'd fill the spot on our team?" Rei chirped.

"Yeah, we're Bones, Eyes and Fish till the end!" Exclaimed Isaribi punching the air with a yell. Kimmimaru groaned.

"I knew letting you chose our team name would come back to haunt me, I just knew it."

"Hindsight is 20 20, it's a bit late for it now Kimmimaru." Shinko said appearing right next to the bone user.

"Captain Shinko." Kimmimaru Isaribi and Rei said as one lining up.

"A month ago Lord Reikage sent a message ahead to the Leaf Village indicating that we would be attending the Chuunin exams being held there in 4 weeks time, you as well as two other teams will be representing our village for the first time on a national scale."

"Which other teams are coming with us?" Isaribi asked.

"Teams will be moved around for the exams, there will be questions raised about the ages of some of you competing; officially Hanabi will be listed as you're teammate and Kimmimaru will be listed under Master Kai's team with Temari and Kankuro. Master Roshi has requested that we send a tailed team and Lord Reikage has approved so Gaara, Yugito and Fuu will be coming with us too."

"But isn't that dangerous?" Isaribi exclaimed.

"While it is potentially dangerous because of Akatsuki Roshi argued, and others agreed, that we need a show of force to effectively stand out at the exams and to effectively 'show ourselves off' to prospective clients, feudal lords from a great many lands will be present for the finals, this was one of the many reasons, others that remain classified, that Lord Reikage has approved the forming of a tailed team for the exams. Besides that Lord Reikage will be there most of the time so I and the other higher ups don't really see a problem." Shinko explained.

"So who's going to be on the team, who's the Master on their team?" Rei asked curiously letting the matter drop. The sound of footsteps approaching had everyone turn their heads to meet with four newcomers.

"That would be me." Roshi announced, the aforementioned demon hosts coming up right behind him. The red haired man looked around him. "Where one team short, where's Kai?"

"They're running late, I'd chalk it up to Hanabi's bingeing on Ramen before we go and Kankuro and Temari are stuck there waiting for her to finish." Naruto said appearing on the top of the wall of the village.

"Lord Reikage, what are you doing here?" Rei asked as Naruto jumped down from the wall to stand with them.

"Well I was thinking I'd give you a proper send off to you're destination, besides I don't need to be here for a while as I've got everything for the next couple of weeks all set so I was thinking of going on a holiday and your all invited." Naruto answered, his head turned slightly to the side and his eyes closed. "Even if there was something urgent that needed my attention I've got a time/space seal to bring me back here; but god help anyone that uses it for something mundane or ill vaporize them." he said cheerfully making a few of those present sweat a bit.

"…where you put it all in that small frame of yours I'll never know." Kankuro's voice sounded in the distance. They heard an audible smack and a howl of indignation as Hanabi Kankuro and Temari came to a stop right in front of the assembled mass with Kai at the back.

"Took you long enough, we've been here a while waiting for you." Rei piped up. "How many bowls did you pack away this time Hanabi?"

"I lost count at 14…" muttered Kankuro before Temari gutted him again with a closed up fan that stood at half of the blonde haired girl's height.

"It was 17 actually, puppet boy." She huffed.

"Now now Hanabi there's no need to pout, we're taking the Blink bird to the Land of Waves, that should cheer you up a bit, but you might want to sit at the back because you just ate and I don't want you to be sick on everyone." Chided Naruto. Hanabi whined.

"But I wanna sit at the front!" she whined. Naruto just shook his head.

"Then you should have thought of that before going on a Ramen binge, I tried to tell you but you just didn't want to listen; now you have to pay the price." Naruto said leaving Hanabi to begin sulking. Sighing Naruto got up from his perch and made his way to his daughter, enveloping her in a hug. "You know you'll feel sick if you ride up front and I don't want to make you feel sick, do you want to feel sick, because I sure don't, you're my little girl and I want you to be happy, even though I might not act like I do sometimes I'm just looking out for what's best for you. Do you understand?" Hanabi nodded. The robed Kage patted her back.

"That's my girl." He said putting her down and moving to the front of the arch. There was a serge of chakra before Naruto's form morphed right before everyone's eyes into a 30 foot raven like bird with enough space on its back to fit everyone present. Naruto hunched and spread his wings out to allow everyone to board his back. "Everyone get on." His voice called to them prompting them to do as they were asked. Twelve people climbed up onto Naruto's back, a translucent dome closing in overhead, sealing them in.

"Hey what gives?" Kankuro yelped out.

"Dad has to close us in otherwise there won't be enough air for you to breathe when he flies really fast." Hanabi explained. "It's also to make sure you don't go flying off him when he starts to go really fast." Right on cue there was a great force that propelled everyone off their feet and crash into the back of the dome, causing everyone to land in a heap. There was a loud shriek.

"Everyone get **off of me**!" Hanabi shrieked before expelling her chakra in a shell like form throwing everyone away from her. With a sigh Hanabi stood up and dusted her hands off. "That's better." Everyone else just groaned though everyone could hear Naruto's disembodied chuckling at their misfortune.

Scene Break (because everything else i try to use just doesnt say there!)

A group of 12 people stood around the end of gargantuan bridge, three adults and nine preteens.

"Well this is where we were told to meet our escort, on the Land of Waves side of the massive bridge The Zabuza. You don't suppose they named it after _that_ psycho do you?" Kakashi Hatake asked his fellow Konoha jounin. Asuma Sarutobi just grunted whilst lighting another cigarette, leaning against the bridge railing. Kurenai Yuhi however was looking off in the town's direction her eyes wide.

"Kakashi, look over there…" she called. Looking up from his porn Kakashi did as asked and turned his head in the direction that Kurenai was pointing. His one eye bulged when he saw what his female colleague was talking about; not too far away from the bridge in the middle of the road was a 10' by 5' sculpture of Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Mist. At the base there was an inscription that read.

**"In dedication and thanks for eliminating Gato corps. stranglehold on our country, we name this bridge The Zabuza."** The plaque read.

"Hey Kakashi sensei, when are these people we're supposed to escort home going to be here?" pink haired Sakura Haruno practically screeched.

"Don't worry too much Sakura, we're actually a bit early so we'll just have to sit here and wait for them, in the meantime why don't you find a way to entertain yourself?" Kakashi quipped. After another screech Sakura went back to watching Sasuke who was leaning against the side of the bridge not too far off. Said Uchiha had overheard the three jounin's earlier interaction about the statue and decided to ask them about it.

"Who is that guy sensei?" he asked pointing to the statue from before.

"From his profile in the Bingo Book his name is Zabuza Momochi and he's a missing nin from the Hidden Mist village." Kakashi began.

"Ne, Kakashi sensei, what's a missing nin?" Sakura asked. Kurenai's eye twitched at the ignorance of the gennin before her, she could not believe the academy had passed her, nor that Kakashi had allowed her to remain a gennin.

"A Missing nin, Sakura, is a ninja that has abandoned their village and Kage and have gone rogue. This one in particular has a very bloody history, he's what changed the way the Hidden Mist graduates their new crop of ninja recruits. In the past," Kakashi continued on, just as Sakura was about to start talking again. "The Hidden Mist had pitted a prospective gennin against their classmates, classmates they trained beside for years and befriended…to the death. Zabuza wasn't even a student in the Hidden Mist's ninja academy but on the day of the exam, he killed every prospective gennin in that year, thus earning his nickname the Demon of the Bloody Mist." Kakashi finished. "Hidden Mist was in the middle of a civil war a few years ago, since then the Hidden Mist has been quite secretive in its dealings."

"Kakashi, are you sensing what I'm sensing?" Asuma asked suddenly, his hands going to his utility pouch and retrieving a set of trench knives.

"Yeah, something incredibly powerful is coming this way, straight towards us. Team seven!" he called. Sakura, Sasuke and Sai all jumped to attention and got into formation, Kurenai and Asuma's teams doing the same seconds later at their sensei's instruction. Kurenai turned to her Hyuuga gennin.

"Hinata!" she called. The hard faced Hyuuga activated her bloodline limit, veins protruding from the sides of her eyes as she gazed outward, what she saw made her flinch and instinctively deactivate her family's hereditary eye technique.

"What is it, what'd you see?" Kiba Inazuka asked, seeing his teammates actions.

"It was so bright, so dense, I cannot look at what's coming, it was like staring at the sun." Hinata explained trying to will the spots in her vision away.

"That doesn't sound good." Ino Yamanaka said starting to tremble.

"Don't worry Ino, neither myself, Kakashi or Kurenai will let harm come to you, we'll protect you with our lives if necessary." Asuma said trying to calm the platinum blonde.

"It's here." Kakashi said seconds later. A huge black raven could be seen coming towards them, large solid blue eyes getting bigger and bigger as it came in for a landing. The gigantic bird stopped in its trajectory, flapped its wings to stabilize itself before descending on the bridge. The Leaf ninja heard it growl before it set its wings to its sides before its back opened up and twelve people walked out.

"Remind me to yell at your dad, I bet he laughed his ass off at us in his head." Kakashi heard from one of them, a young man in his early 20's. The cyclopic jounin heard a snicker somewhere in the mass of people.

"Yell all you want, he'll just kick your ass for taking up his time. In the meantime though I think the people in front of us are waiting for us to introduce themselves, they look quite agitated." a young blonde female cut in indicating to the tense Leaf ninja. Kakashi was about to address them just as the massive bird, who was looking right past him, began to laugh, or what they could discern as a laugh. Then the massive black creature started to shift right in front of their eyes, the shape shrinking and changing its structure to that of a human. A few seconds later stood a man decked out in a black version of the Kage's garb, a black headdress with a white kanji for Spirit pressed at the front, his face covered by a ANBU like black mask, his solid blue eyes practically brimming with amusement.

"Oh man, that's priceless, they named a bridge after that oaf, the Mizukage said that they were going to honor his deed but seriously, that's too much." The man said chuckling madly. A few others from the newly arrived caught sight of what he was laughing at and began to snicker as well.

"Oh this is good, now I've got something I can tease him about, HAHA! Unshakable my eye." A young red head boy said catching the mirth from the 'Kage'.

"Dad come on, I think these were the people we were supposed to meet to escort us." the voice from before said. The man dressed in black settled down.

"Yes, you are right, my dearest daughter, I'd best put them out of their misery, err wait, set them at ease." He said before walking right up to Kakashi.

"Sorry for our behavior, its just we have a little history with that chibi demon that went and became the hero of a country, this place was dirt poor a few months ago. Anyway, I believe you've been waiting for us, I am the Lord Reikage of the Hidden Spirit Village and these 12 are the ninja from my village that you'll be escorting for the Chuunin selection examinations." He introduced.

"_Lord_ Rei_kage_? Isn't that a bit presumptuous?" Grunted Asuma.

"Yeah maybe, but I think I deserve it, I mean I did almost half the work in Mist's civil war which led to the 5th Mizukage taking the reins." The Reikage explained. "That and I did create my village nearly from scratch, I can also beat every single person here without breaking a sweat as no one alive possesses as much chakra as I do." He explained.

"Che, then you've never fought an Uchiha." Sasuke declared.

"Uchiha? Like Itachi Uchiha? We crossed paths once and he paid the price, I sealed those eyes away and only I hold the key that locks those eyes away." The Reikage answered. Sasuke went rigid, the words of the guy in front of him sinking into his head. Before he could even think Sasuke was halfway between where he was before and between the Reikage, a kunai held tightly in his hands in a reverse grip.

"He was mine to kill!" he screamed as he zeroed in on the black clad man. Kakashi made a motion to stop his enraged student when he realized he couldn't move at all, Asuma and Kurenai finding themselves in a similar predicament. Glancing downward the one eyed jounin caught sight of his and his jounin comrades shadows connected with Shikamaru Nara's.

"What are you doing, Nara?" he called just before Sasuke reached the dark cloaked Kage. The Leaf village ninja's eye widened comically when Sasuke's kunai ripped through the man's body though no blood sprayed outward and the Reikage didn't react at all that he was being attacked. In his rage Sasuke didn't see this as he just kept slicing at the figure in front of him.

"What…"

"The…"

"Fuck…?" the Leaf nin all said as they watched the spectacle in front of them. the remaining gennin were all gaping at the scene before them while the jounin were trying to free themselves from the Shadow Possession jutsu that was holding them still. After a moment the Reikage's arm moved from his side and backhanded the now panting Uchiha who bounced across the ground till he hit the statue of Zabuza. He then turned to a young man in his party.

"Kai you can release them now." He ordered. The Leaf jounin watched as the man mentioned moved not a single muscle to indicate that he'd done anything. An instant later the Shadow Possession jutsu failed and Shikamaru's Shadow returned to normal. Sakura's cry of 'SASUKE!' went unheeded as everyone else just stared at the ninja in front of them; these guys were the real deal.

"I think that was an adequate demonstration, don't you think?" the Reikage quipped as the Leaf ninja stared gob smacked at what just happened. Kakashi turned his head to look at the downed Uchiha, Sakura fussing over him, as per usual, and then back at the Reikage. Following the scarecrow's movements the Reikage waved him off.

"Relax Dog," Kakashi's eye widened again in surprise. "I only knocked him out; him hitting the statue was just for kicks." The Reikage explained.

"Kakashi sensei, that bastard knocked Sasuke out!" Sakura cried out. The Reikage tilted his head to the side.

"See?" Kakashi let out a sigh motioning everyone to relax, which they did so. Shikamaru grunted before he collapsed on the ground.

"What a drag…" he muttered before he slowed hid eyes and went to sleep. Kai's head popped up eyeing the dozing Nara.

"He's got the right idea." He said before dropping to the ground, asleep. A small brown haired girl, who had been hidden behind the sleeping Kai, kicked him in the side.

"Wake up you idiot!" two voices said in sync as Ino and the same small girl smacked their sleeping counterparts.

"You call yourself my sensei, my god." She huffed. Kai just groaned and turned on his side. Other than the fact that she was a young brown haired girl none of the Leaf ninja could see anything else about her as she was wearing a black overcoat with a hood that hid her face, like the rest of the Spirit ninja present.

"Well now that all the theatrics are out of the way, can we please get going, it'll probably take a few days for is to reach you're village at a decent pace so if you would be so kind as to collect your gennin and show us the way that'd be grand." The Reikage droned out. Kakashi snapped out of his daze and nodded before looking at his jounin comrades.

"Could you get one from your teams to help collect Sasuke? Then we can get to doing the mission we were assigned." Kakashi requested. Nodding Kurenai and Asuma called Chouji and Kiba, the two physically strongest of the group to help carry Sasuke before they made their way across the massive bridge.

Scene Break

"I'm not too impressed with these gennin, just about every one of them has a pitiful chakra level, none of them would be an adequate challenge." Gaara said in disappointment.

"What did you just say?" growled a feral looking boy. The small dog on his head however seemed ill at ease antagonizing these new ninja.

"I said that I wasn't impressed by your chakra level, its pitifully weak even Rei could beat you and she only uses illusions. None of you would be able to stand a chance against any of us, except for maybe that Hyuuga teammate of yours but even then the Gentle Fist will do little against us." Gaara reiterated.

"Hey take that back, I'm Kiba Inazuka and I'm not weak, I'll beat your ass into the ground any day!" he snarled.

"Well talking about its not gonna make it happen, the only one that can pull that off well is Lord Reikage and Rei, Rei's powers are unbreakable and Lord Reikage's a monster on the battlefield." Yugito cut in.

"What? What makes them so special?" Ino asked cutting into the fray.

"Rei has a bloodline and Lord Reikage is a transcended human being." Kai answered. Hinata, who had yet to speak, was instead analyzing their attire.

"All of you are wearing condensed, solid forms of chakra that blocks my Byakugan, how is that possible?" Demanded the Hyuuga heiress.

"It's a skill of Lord Reikage's, he can do almost anything with chakra, its one of the things we learn at our Training Dojo before were branded with our Spirit seals and granted the title of Initiate. Except of course for the Nine." Kimmimaru answered.

"The Nine what?" Shinkamaru asked, joining the conversation.

"The Nine are nine individuals in the Hidden Spirit village that are the best in the village, they posses skills and powers that are completely unique and un-teachable, with the Reikage being the Ninth. They are the best of the best, when others fail, they don't and in the slight chance that they do Lord Reikage always pulls through, he's never lost a fight in his life." Roshi explained.

"Then I suppose you four are each one of the Nine? Your cloaks have the same decorative chain hanging off the back of your neck, unlike your other comrades." Shino examined. The chain was hung from one shoulder blade to the other in a low curved V.

"We're here to blow the competition away." Fu said with a smirk.

"You guys don't have the same tattoo on your arms like the others do either." Sai announced prompting everyone to give them a once over again. Their left arm sleeves were torn off to the shoulder revealing their marks.

"What are they anyway?" Ino asked curiously, mesmerized by the moving patterns on their arms.

"Every Spirit ninja has one of these placed on them after they finish Preliminary training at the Dojo, it gives us mental control of all our chakra making controlling it much easier. The nine don't have them because their chakra is different to everyone else's so their Seals are just to show our loyalty." Isaribi explained.

"Of course all of us have different tales on how we came to live in the Hidden Spirit Village, some more pleasant than others, so some of us have different Seals to the normal but all of them do the same things, a lot of us were already there when Lord Reikage created the village so they signed up for formal training, others sought sanctuary from the world for past misdeeds or other…circumstances." Isaribi added, spitting on the last word like poison. After that the talking pretty much died though the Leaf ninja were still eyeing them heavily, Hinata trying again to pierce through their cloaks with her bloodline.

Scene Break

"Lord Reikage, may I ask a question of you?" Kurenai asked as they walked. They had just come into the boarder of the Land of Fire and the Leaf gennin were starting to wear.

"Hmm?"

"What was that jutsu you used to transform into a carrier bird, if never seen a jutsu like that." She said. The Reikage scratched the back of his hooded head.

"Well it's not so much a jutsu as it is molding chakra to do a transformation." He replied.

"But transformations are just illusions, everyone knows that, what you did was real and physical, otherwise you couldn't have, for one flown, and two, carried 12 people inside of you to the bridge." Kurenai argued.

"Correction, your transformations are illusions, I teach a different concept that's different, so naturally my transformations are different. If you want I can take us all to your Leaf village the same way, you'd just have to vouch that I'm not some massive demon hell bend on destroying you all with a swing of a tail, that is of course only if you want."

"Err, yeah…sure…I'll just run it by Asuma and Kakashi." The red eyed jounin said before moving to do just that. Roshi moved his hand to his arm seal from the other side of the group of 24.

'Naruto are you sure that this is a good idea, this'll be like sending a sheep into the lions den.' The red head man asked.

'There's nothing that the Leaf village can do to us short of using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and only the Third Hokage has the ability to pull that off, besides it'll take days to get to the Leaf village and I don't want to travel for that long, we can be there in the blink of an eye if we can get them to roll with it.' Naruto reasoned.

'Yeah I get it; I can't wait to see the faces of those in the Leaf Village.' Roshi said before cutting the connection to his Seal. By this time Kurenai had come back from conversing with Asuma and Kakashi.

"Were all agreed that several days travel isn't as appealing as instant travel, it would be an experience in on its own. It'll give me a chance to see how you do that technique and see how your technique differs from mine."

"Ah! Of course, you're an illusions expert. Not a problem, stand back and I'll show you." The Reikage said standing back till there was a wide berth before his body expanded, wings exploding from his sides and his masked face sprouted a beak. The Reikage fluffed his wings a few times before twitching his neck 90 degrees. The smallest of the Rei nin moved forward first.

"Dad likes this form the most, for you to travel inside him you'll each have to take hold of one of us or you'll fall through him. These," she said pointing to the seal on her arm. "Allow us to interact with Dad's chakra on his frequency because everyone's chakra operates on different wave lengths, stay close or you might find yourself having an accident." The seal on the girls arm glowed a second. "Dad says he's ready when you're ready, just follow me." She said before taking the older woman's arm and walked to the back of the massive bird, which opened up like a door, which the smaller girl disappeared into. The other 22 people had linked up and followed suit and disappeared into the bird. Once everyone was loaded up the door closed up and the Reikage gave a cry before shooting up into the air and vanishing.

"I wouldn't get comfortable, when Lord Reikage puts on the breaks, you'll end up in a heap of limbs at the back of the dome, he does this every time to get a stab at humor." Kai said to their new guests who were staring around in wonder. His seal glowed a second before he snickered, along with every other Rei nin.

"For you're benefit you'll get to experience flying in all its glory." The Reikage's voice sounded in the dome before the top vanished leaving clear blue skies, the Reikage's bird head visible from their position in his back. The small brown haired girl moved to towards the head, pulling Kurenai with her till they were standing on the head and neck of the giant avian.

"I can see the village already! Just how fast are we traveling anyway?" Kurenai asked as her red orbs caught sight of her home getting bigger and bigger as the seconds went by.

"Lord Reikage can fly at the blink of an eye when he needs to, or when he takes that little hellion," a younger red head pointed to the girl with Kurenai. "For joyrides." Said girl just growled slightly at the name. Reaching to just in front of the village's front gate the Reikage came to a stop.

"Hehe, Dad's got something special just for you Leaf nin." The little girl said before the Leaf ninja were released from the Rei nin holding onto them, they subsequently fell right through the floor.

Scene Change

Konoha gate guards Izumo and Kotetsu looked up from their booth at the front of the village when they noted that a massive black bird appeared out of nowhere. They moved instantly into combat positions but instead became dumbstruck when the bird dropped from its behind, 12 human shapes.

"Kotetsu…" one said.

"Yeah Izumo?" the other answered.

"Did we just see a giant bird shit out this year's new batch of rookie gennin and their sensei's?" he asked.

"I think we just saw a massive black bird shit out 12 Leaf village shinobi, land itself and another 12 foreign shinobi exit from it." The other answered. They looked at the pile of crumpled bodies before looking at each other before pulling cameras out of nowhere and snapping as many pictures as they could. After about 15 seconds of this they paused again as they witnessed the bird change its shape to that of a black clad man wearing a Kage garb with the Kanji for Spirit on it.

"Right, that was a lot faster than walking, now wasn't it?" the black Kage quipped before turning to face the two gate guards. "Greetings, I am the Reikage of the Hidden Spirit Village and these are my gennin ninja and their sensei's, they're here to participate in the Chuunin selection exam." Both gate guards just looked on dumfounded at the black dressed man.

'Even though I knew this was going to happen I still feel very uneasy…so much can go wrong…if I'm made then our stay isn't going to be a very pleasant one.' Naruto thought as he looked in on the Hidden Leaf village for the first time in years.

"Everyone form up, we've got company." he said calmly, every Rei nin doing as ordered and lining up in their teams just as a 4 man squad of ANBU appeared in a plume of smoke. By this time the Konoha 12 and their senseis had pulled themselves together into some form of order, quite a few of them leveling scathing looks on Naruto's back for his stunt.

"The Third Hokage requests the presence of all newcomers, please follow us." one said through a voce altering porcelain mask.

"Very well, lead the way." Naruto turned to his shinobi. "Stay close and don't react to anyone or anything till after we're done with our meeting with the Hokage, understood." A chorus of affirmatives could be heard before they set off in the direction of the Hokage's tower. Hanabi scampered ahead to take her hands hand in her own, it seemed as though she was having the same feeling as he was. Naruto then projected a cover illusion over Hanabi's face, it would only last a short while but it was all they needed to evade in depth scrutiny if just for the first bit of registration, after that the sparks could fly.

Every passer by they walked passed stopped to gaze at the troupe that was being escorted by a squad of ANBU elites, each of the newcomers wearing a unique styled overcoat that draped over their whole bodies and obscured their faces almost completely with the exception to revealing what color hair some of them had because their long hair resting out at the front of their hoods.

"Who are they?"

"What do you think they're here for?"

"They look very mysterious, very dangerous."

"Why do they have their faces obscured?" and other such comments and questions followed the group of Rei ninja till they entered the Hokage Tower. They all went up several flights of stairs bypassing everyone they met before coming to a stop in front of a set of closed dark wooden doors. The ANBU leading them pushed the doors open and led them into an office with a singe desk sitting in front of open windows, the desk having just one occupant, an elder man wearing the Hokage headdress, his hands interlocked in front of his face.

"Lord Hokage, the newcomers, as you ordered." The ANBU droned before leaving the room, closing the doors behind them. The instant the doors were closed the black Kage spoke.

"Lets cut the crap, no one in this office wants to be here longer than necessary, so lets get done what you want done with us so that we can be on our way and you can get back to filling out your paperwork your stuffed into the draws of your desk. We're here in the Leaf Village to take the Chuunin exam alongside the other nations on the continent, we need you to give us guest passes so that we can legalize and sign up for the exam." The dark Kage said. The Third Hokage crossed his arms and paid them against his mahogany desk, his face completely blank for a moment.

"Who are you?" cue mass face fault by some of the Rei nin.

"I am the Reikage, founder of the Hidden Spirit Village of the Land of the Sea, these," the man pointed to the ninja behind him. "Are my Shinobi, my gennin and their sensei's, it s my wish that they be allowed to compete in the exams that are to begin in the next few days."

"Is that so? Well I'll need for your shinobi to reveal themselves in that case." Sarutobi requested. As one they took hold of their cowls and threw them back. "Well then, let me just find the forms necessary for your stay and set you up in guest quarters for Chuunin exam applicants, though if you don't mind my saying so don't you think that some of them are a bit young? People die in these exams." The Hokage said matter of factly. The people in question bristled with irritation but did little else.

"They may look like greenhorns to you, Lord Hokage, but no one becomes one of my shinobi without understanding the rules, everyone before you has taken a life at one stage or another, there are no delusions about the world we live in and I was not going to let them into my ninja force with that delusion in their mindset; I don't think I can say the same about some of your gennin however. But I assure you it's not us that you'll have to look out for in the exams; its everyone else." The Black Kage turned to his ninja. "Take a form, sign it and find our accommodations; I've a bit of sightseeing to do." He said before exploding into smoke and disappearing.

When the office was empty of everyone save for Hiruzen he flipped through the signed forms to make sure they were in order.

"What is this, this is not possible! ANBU!" Hiruzen called, half a minute later a squad of ANBU appeared in the office, kneeling at him.

"Yes Lord Hokage!"

"Call the council together, we have a problem." The Hokage said, glancing at the form in his hands that read Hanabi Namikaze.

Scene Break

Naruto reappeared at a fenced off location around the training grounds.

'I believe that this place is kind of dangerous.' He thought idly as he eyed a dango skewer that was buried halfway into the dirt that had just phased through him.

"That's an interesting first greeting." He said aloud before his assailant appeared behind him, a kunai to his neck.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are but you're trespassing on my stomping grounds, if you don't want to lose the ability to have kids I suggest you scram." A biting voice sounded next to his ear. Naruto shook his head, turning his head right around so he was facing whoever was threatening him.

"Oh it's you, hello again; it's been a long time since I last saw you," Naruto said before looking her up and down. "Mesh top and mini skirt with trench coat…I'd thought you'd have at least changed your attire after a few years Miss Anko."

"Oh a wise guy huh, I know how to deal with you're kind." Anko said through gritted teeth before drawing kicking him between his legs. Her eyes went wide when her foot went right through him till it rested in his gut.

"It's not very nice to try kick someone there, especially if you don't know who they are Miss Anko," Naruto said tonelessly before merely stepping away till Anko's leg was free from his body. Anko lowered her leg slowly and just stared at him unblinkingly. "So have you decided to start living your life instead of acting yet?" Anko's eyes widened drastically as Naruto's words triggered a memory of 5 years ago when a little kid had wripped through her Snake grapple. Snapping out of her reverie Anko was about to begin questioning him before a loud shout cut her off.

"HEY DAD!" he heard Hanabi scream as she ran towards him, a sizable dust cloud in her wake indicating that she was either in a hurry, excited or both. Coming in closer she leapt at him till she was hugging his neck with her legs around his middle, her hood flying off her head, the illusion from before falling only minutes before.

"Yes Hanabi, what is it?" he asked the hyper 8 year old.

"They have a Ramen stand in the village and I need money." She answered. Naruto couldn't help it; he laughed good and hard.

"I should have known, alright you little terror lead the way but you can't have too much, you already had 17 bowls earlier remember." He said arms coming out from his sides to pry her off of him to set her on the ground again. "Oh Miss Anko, if you'd like; your welcome to join us, my treat." Naruto said turning back to the still silent snake summoner.

"Quit playing around with other woman dad, you've already got mum, now come on, let's go, Ramen time!" Hanabi almost yelled trying to drag him along faster with little success.

"Yeah yeah I'm coming." Naruto said trying to placate his hyped up daughter. Back by the fence of the Forest of Death Anko's mind finally caught up with what she just saw in front of her.

'Holy shit that guy's not human!' Then a few seconds later another brainwave washed over her. "That girl's a Hyuuga!"

* * *

AN: That is chapter 13, things are starting to unfurl, Hanabi has been sighted and Naruto's ninja will be put under a lot of scrutiny, how will this affect events to come? And i Know there wasn't a whole lot of input from specific characters but this chapter was only to start the ball rolling for the exams.

I WAS going to write this whole chapter on Wave and a bit after it but it just didn't flow right so cut it out and started fresh, this was the result (Plus I've read so many recounts of the Wave mission I thought a change of pace was in order) I hope you enjoyed it.

Lastly, Reviews. I'd like to have more than 40 reviews for the chapter. I know there are a lit of people reading this, there are 919 people with this story on alerts, all I'm asking is a little bit of your time to tell me what you like about me story, what you want to see more of and what you'd like to see happen, that's all, is it really that hard? Am I really asking for too much?

As usual I'kk end my Authors notes with the standard message of errors, if you spot any, please tell me so I can correct them.


	14. Family Affairs

AN: He everyone, I'm back with another chapter, quite overdue ( I know but better late then never.

I'd like this time to say I'm very sorry, there's just been a lot going on in my life and i couldn't find my groove to write this chapter, I had to struggle tooth and nail just to get this small bit out. If it weren't for the assistance of my little brother giving me the added inspiration needed, I wouldn't even have this bit to give to you.I have said on several occasions but I will say it again for those of you who need to hear it, I will not abandon this story, even if I end up being an old blind man in the future I will find a way to finish this story.

I feel that this is might be a regular occurrence(the long periods between updates), as when I started this story I did not have a thorough plan in mind, I'm just writing off the top of my head and planning as I go along, which isn't good for any story really but it is the only way that I can write this, or any fic for that matter.

Now I know there will be some people that won't be pleased with this chapter but in all honesty I don't know how else I could have taken it, if anyone reads this, if you could, in a review could you tell me how YOU would have gone about certain bits of the story? As its the only real way that I can get my creative juices flowing.

As some of you may have guessed this chapter is centered around 1 or 2 main things that I felt needed to be addressed, and I remember reading at least few times that some people didn't want to read stuff like that. Tough, it needs to be done so you'll have to suffer through it.

With this long rant out of the way, on with the story. (assuming anyone actually read the above notes.)

* * *

The council of the village hidden in the leaves was in pandemonium, the civilians on said council were raging while the clan heads where more subdued over the fact that Anko Mitarashi, the former apprentice of the traitorous snake sannin Orochimaru had just told them that she had just seen the missing daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, with the Reikage and considered the Spirit Shadow her father.

"We have to get the girl back! She could give away the Hyuuga secrets" said a random council member whom was a retired shinobi, and a suck up to the Hyuuga clan.

"I doubt that a child so young would know anything about clan secrets." Sarutobi Hiruzen called, the Hokage making another puff of smoke with his pipe to help with his nerves that were being grated heavily.

"Sarutobi I want my daughter back now, Hanabi might not know of secrets of the Byakugan but the chances of someone from this Reikage's village unlocking its secrets and faults is too great! I demand you do something about that man who kidnapped her!" shouted Hiashi the enraged head of the Hyuuga clan, slamming his fist on the table in front of him for good measure.

"You know, I thought that that The Hokage was the one that gave out orders in this village, not the other way around; when did this place become a democracy?" said a mysterious voice from all around the council chamber making nearly all the civilian council members jump and the clan heads and former ninja tense in apprehension. Black mist appeared in the middle of the council room and engulfed the Hokage completely raising all hell as ANBU swarmed the dim stone room.

The first thing that Hiruzen took note of was that he was surrounded by blackness, similar to the First Hokage's Bringer of Darkness Jutsu. He shifted his aging body into a ready position, on guard for anything.

"You don't need to be on guard Lord Hokage, I do not wish to hurt you, I only wish to talk to you without outside interference." Then the Hokage could see someone appear in the darkness, a young blonde boy that stood up to his waist.

"Who are you?" The monkey sommoner barked. "Where am I?"

"Well it has been five years so I can let it slide that you might have forgotten me, you're currently in the throws of the mental projection of my mind, away from the eyes and ears of those on your village council. If you haven't figured it out yet you old man, I am Naruto Namikaze, son of the 4th Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, the self-styled Reikage." Hiruzen gaped at the younger boy as he processed this information.

"N-Naruto?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out." Naruto said with a grin.

"What's going on?" The Hokage asked, at a complete loss for words.

"Well that's a bit hard to explain, to put it simply, I've come to warn you that some really heavy shit is about to go down during these exams, with a lot going on behind the scenes that you aren't aware of." Naruto paused. "This has nothing to do with what your council has brought up either, just so you know, well not entirely."

"What are you talking about?" Sarutobi enquired.

"Your old student, Orochimaru, has a rather unique ninjutsu that allows him to possess another person's body, in the short sense, it's an Immortality jutsu." Sarutobi's eyes widened in horror, the ramifications of this fact hit him like a speeding Akamichi's Human Boulder.

"He wants to learn all the jutsu in the world…"

"Meaning he'll want the Sharingan of the last Uchiha you have in your village. No matter the cost, this chance, with the exam being hosted in your village makes this way too tempting an opportunity for him to pass up, no matter who might be in the village. To that end he has amassed himself an army that will invade the exam and destroy your village, not that you don't have it coming, there are a lot of people that want this place up in flames and you know that he's just one of them."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sarutobi asked uneasily, realizing that this wasn't information that Naruto would just give out for free, you didn't have a reputation like his and do something like this out of the goodness of your heart.

"My reason is purely selfish. In exchange for this information I want something that you have. I have a family, old man." Sarutobi smiled subconsciously at the term of endearment Naruto used years back, before the weight of the blonde boys words registered in his brain.

"What?"

"Shortly after fleeing this village 5 years ago, I accidentally mixed a bit of my chakras with someone else's, causing the formation of a new life form, near to the end of these exams, my partner is going to give birth."

"Congratulations." Was all Hiruzen could manage.

"Yes well as great as that is, and trust me, it is wonderful, the tricky part revolves around the birth of my kid, I need the jutsu that was used on me when I was born, I need the Reaper Death Seal and I know you have it."

"What?" Sarutobi asked, his face ashen, his mind racing miles per minute.

"I need the Reaper Death Seal to ensure that the birth of my kid goes smoothly, my seal is held in place with the **combined **power of my will and that of Death itself, I need its blessing if I want to break the seal completely." Naruto explained.

"Why would you want to break the seal?" Sarutobi asked rapidly. "If you break the seal then the nine tails will be released, and your father would have died for nothing."

"I hardly think that sealing my partner inside me can be called nothing, besides what she did 12 years ago wasn't her fault, it was Madara's, he put her in a trance and told her to sack the village, and he'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for that father of mine." It took Sarutobi a few seconds regain his composure. Naruto knowing of his father was a surprise but it was overshadowed by the other name he just heard.

"Madara, as in…"

"Madara Uchiha, yes, the very same Uchiha that rose up against the First Hokage, one of my ancestors, but I'm getting ahead of myself; as I was saying before, I have to get Death to break the seal so that Hitomi can give birth, after which we'll seal our baby into my daughter Hanabi."

"Hanabi Hyuuga." Sarutobi stated, his face becoming hard as stone. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that Naruto, she's a Hyuuga and the daughter of the head of the Hyuuga main branch."

"She's _my_ daughter, _I_ raised her, _I_ trained her and what's more, Hanabi _Namikaze_ wants this." the younger of the two said sternly.

"You would condemn her to a life of hate and hardship?" Sarutobi asked with a raised brow. Naruto scowled.

"The rest of the world might shun and fear those like me and my kind but my villagers love me, they praise and respect those in my situation, those that contain powers beyond their comprehension. I do not expect you to understand but this _will_ happen, even if I have to steal that scroll the jutsu is written on. I do not wish to fight you; you were one of the only people that cared for me when I lived here but I will if you give me no other choice." Naruto pleaded.

"You can't do this to the daughter of the Hyuuga clan head." Sarutobi reiterated.

"She is _my_ daughter in all but blood, do not deny me this Hiruzen Sarutobi or you _will_ regret it."

"Are you threatening me?" the Hokage asked incredulously.

"I never threaten, I promise; and I never go back on my promises. If you make a move to take Hanabi from me, I promise you, you'll only live to regret it."

"**Now now, play nice Naruto, you haven't seen the man in years."** A new voice sounded on Hiruzen's other side. The Third Hokage turned his head to the source of the voice to come face to face with a beautiful red head that was showing a rather impressive belly.

"Kushina?" he asked in astonishment.

"**No, my name is Hitomi, though my appearance is based on someone that was really close to me, but I have no real clear memory anything until after Naruto's father broke that Sharingan jutsu that Madara had me under, so I might look like whoever this Kushina person is/was."** There was a silence for a moment before Naruto broke it, bringing the focus back onto the original topic of discussion.

"You might want to think about what this will mean for everyone involved, Hanabi has known me as her father all her conscious life, she will do everything to stay with those whom she loves, and is loved by in return. The option of choice is a freedom I do not see fit to take away from her, do what you think you must Lord Hokage of Leaf Village I won't stop you from doing what you think you have to but Hanabi won't let you do anything she doesn't want to, unless I tell her otherwise."

"The Hyuuga clan won't like this." Sarutobi said with a grunt/sigh.

"They have no say on matters pertaining to one of my people, neither do you; I'm only telling you how things are so you can make an informed choice of action, this wasn't going to remain secret for very long so I thought just get it out of the way. I've told you what I felt I needed to, the snake fag is after the Sharingan, that cannot be allowed to happen." Naruto paused a moment, considering something before speaking again. "Orochimaru isn't yet as powerful as he used to be after his confrontation with me a while back but he has a village of minions at his disposal which he will throw at your village in hopes of invading and destroying your village. I said my piece and my conscience is clear so we'll leave you to confer with your gaggle of geese." With these last words Hiruzen saw his surroundings blur out, before his sight went black.

Seconds later he was back in the council room, ANBU next to him and the entire council deathly quiet.

"Lord Hokage! Are you alright?" the lead anbu asked quickly.

"Yes, I'm fine; you can stand down." The masked ninja bowed before vanishing.

"What was that Lord Hokage?" Shikaku Nara queried. Sarutobi sighed quietly, this was going to cause hell.

"Honourable council, what has just happened does not leave this room, anyone breaking this vow of silence will be punished most harshly by Ibiki for treason." Then Sarutobi told them what Naruto told him.

"That _thing _is still alive? I thought it was long dead!" one of the lesser clans exclaimed.

"Not only is Naruto still alive but he has enough power in him to go toe to toe with the 4th Hokage without a problem. I can confirm that he does, without a doubt, have Hanabi Hyuuga with him and she is his legal daughter, there is nothing any of us can do about it. But this isn't the biggest problem by far." Hiruzen spoke gravely causing a still silence to set.

"Not the biggest problem? Lord Hokage my daughter is in the hands of a monster!" Hiashi yelled in outrage.

"Silence! The issue with your daughter is of concern to us but that is only one of three critical bits of information that Naruto informed me of, the other two are far more dangerous pieces of information that trump the first." Hiruzen took quick breath. "Madara Uchiha is still alive; he was the one that orchestrated the attack on the village 12 years ago by placing the nine tailed fox under an extremely powerful genjutsu."

"Then we should train the last Uchiha to try replicate this, with the complete power of the nine tails under our complete control-" a civilian representative started before Hiruzen levelled him with a death glare.

"Have you any idea what your suggesting? It was one thing to think that you could control that boys allegiance with the promises of power that I know you can't accurately deliver on, but I remember reading his psyche evaluation after the massacre, if he could ever learn a genjutsu like that and properly control it, it would spell doom for everyone, we do not need another Madara on our hands, one is more than anyone can handle. Besides Naruto still has the nine tails sealed inside of him so ultimately he has total reign." He paused a moment to allow his words to sink in before levelling them with the last bit of news.

"The last thing that I was told, a much more immediate threat has emerged, one of my former pupils, Orochimaru, is massing for an invasion of these exams, and he has targeted Sasuke for the Sharingan, and I have little doubt that he is telling the truth. Although Orochimaru is weary of there being three kage level shinobi in the village during the exam his lust for the Sharingan will have overridden his common sense."

"We should cancel these exams!"

"Don't be stupid, if we did that then we'd tip our hand that we know something is up." Inoichi Yamanaka spoke up. "We should let things continue on their present course, though I think it would be best if we made the Uchiha unable to participate." This suggestion drew quite a few intrigued stares.

"What do you mean?" Chouza asked.

"Explain." Koharu demanded.

"Well it's very simple really; if we orchestrate events so that the Uchiha brat cannot compete in the exams then our enemy will be thrown off their plans."

"That is a good idea in theory, but if we do that then we have to try anticipate what Orochimaru will do as a fall back plan and he is near to impossible to predict." Hiruzen said wisely. "However I believe it would be better for us in the long run if we let things play out, have Sasuke Uchiha participate in the exams while we plan a counter offensive so we can take out my old students forces, have a team of ANBU black ops. shadow him throughout the first two exams an up the security for the 3rd. We set a trap for my wayward student with Sasuke as the bait."

"Let Orochimaru bring his followers into the trap by thinking that he has the upper hand…we would surely suffer some collateral damage but it is a better plan then going hunting for enemies when we don't know the exact size of Orochimaru's forces." Shikaku voiced, gaining quite a few calls of agreement.

"This plan is sketchy at best, would it not be better to replace the Uchiha survivor in a secluded bunker and out of the exams while a spec ops ANBU takes his place?" Shibi Aburame inquired. "All of the aforementioned actions could still be performed as you have previously suggested but we won't be at risk of having the Sharingan bloodline snatched from us." the bug user added.

"Also we have to take into consideration on how Orochimaru might undertake this task, right now we're assuming that Orochimaru will physically take him away, from what my son Kiba has told me Sasuke only does something if he believes it will benefit him in his goals, in either killing his brother or beating Hiashi's heir; Orochimaru is a very powerful ninja in his own right, he might offer the brat power in exchange for his defection and it is well known amongst us what his mental state is at." Tsume Inazuka pointed out.

"True, there is the possibility of my former student doing just that, Sasuke could follow my former student willingly if he could gain power enough to accomplish his goals. That said Orochimaru wants Sasuke for his bloodline, I doubt Orochimaru will realistically train Sasuke enough to successfully take out Itachi when Orochimaru himself is not able to take the Clan slayer on and win." Hiruzen added.

"As to the option of switching Sasuke out of the exams with a Spec. Ops. nin, if we did that the boy will more than likely go missing nin anyway for us keeping power from him; not only that but it would be near impossible for an ANBU to impersonate Sasuke accurately enough without having the participants suspecting anything, his teammates most of all. Furthermore, if we are discovered doing such by the other villages it will be a political nightmare, with accusations that we are giving the last of a once prominent clan special treatment." Sarutobi finished.

"We should inform Sasuke of this development, it is his life we are discussing here." the sudden suggested had brought quite a few murmurs all around but were quickly silenced.

"I said before, that this information was not to leave this chamber, did I not? That boy is neither strong enough nor stable enough to know information as sensitive as this, it is for his own good as well as ours if this information is kept from reaching his ears." The Hokage said tersely.

"So what do you suggest then?" Himora asked Hokage was silent for a moment.

"Tighten boarder and village security and pass it off as a precaution for the exam for the moment." Hiruzen finally answered.

"It is not a very well thought out plan but it will have to do for the meantime." Koharu agreed, speaking up for the first time. "Under these circumstances, and with what information we have currently we can do little else."

"Then it is decided, I will inform the head captain of ANBU of the situation and we will prepare for an invasion, remember tell no one outside of this room lest anyone give anything away. You are all dismissed."

* * *

While Naruto was dealing with the council and the Hokage, Hanabi was at Ichiraku Ramen chowing down on her 4th bowl with gusto. Ayame and Teuchi openly gaping at the little girl as she packed the bowls of noodles and broth down her mouth. Next to her all of Hanabi's comrades sat on stools eating their ramen at a more sedate pace than the pale eyed youngster, they had joined her shortly after Naruto had vanished to talk to the Hokage.

"This is really good ramen, maybe even better than back home." Hanabi exclaimed moving onto the last bowl of her order. Rei who was sitting next to Hanabi tilted her head to the side a fraction, she could sense a rather large collection of ninja headed towards them, all familiar from a few hours ago.

"We have company incoming." She informed them.

"I sensed them too, two of them are fluctuating heavily, they most likely want to start a fight." Isaribi noted.

"Whatever they want they better not disturb me from the best ramen I've had in a long time or I'm going to hurt whoever does it." Hanabi said through a mouth full of ramen.

"Manners Hanabi." Yugito chided softly. Hanabi just hmphed before eating at a more sedate pace. Everyone present gave Yugito an astonished look.

"How did you do that? The only ones I know that I know she listens to are her mum and dad and you aren't either." Roushi cried.

"Well I helped when it came to drilling manners into her head, sometimes all you need is a more direct feminine touch and because Hitomi isn't what you'd call the picture perfect definition of femininity Naruto asked me to do it, which I did." The blonde explained. Further talk was halted when the flaps of the ramen stand were thrown back, an irate Sasuke glaring at them.

"Can we help you with something?"Shinkou inquired.

"You people made me look like a fool back in Wave, I want to fight one of you." Sasuke declared.

"No." Sasuke's eyes bulged at the blatant refusal. Then he sprouted a cocky smirk.

"Why are you scared or something? Perhaps stories of my exploits have reached your pathetic village and your scared of being beaten by an Uchiha Elite." he tried to goad them.

"Not at all, the exams are the only time that fighting between participants of the chuunin exam are allowed, are you trying to get us disqualified before they've even begun?" Roushi enquired with a raised brow.

"And even if that weren't the case, you can't learn anything with that Sharingan of yours if we did fight you so it would be a waste of everyone's time if we did." Temari added. "And the only stories we've ever heard about you were about how you weren't even worth killing, your brother knew you'd never amount to anything as a person or a ninja so he let you live."

"Fool! With the power of the Sharingan at my disposal I am invincible." Crowed Sasuke, absolutely furious at Temari's statement.

"Really Uchiha, is that why you've always lost against me when we've fought." A new voice came from behind Sasuke making him jump in surprise. Looking back moving to the side slightly he glared at the newcomer.

"Hinata." He growled. "I never had the Sharingan all the times we've fought, the next time however the results will be different." Sasuke declared.

"With or without that 'oh so precious Sharingan' of yours my skill still exceeds your own, no bloodline alone can bridge the gap between you and I." the Hyuuga heiress preached.

"We'll see about that when I take you down during the exam." He shot back before stalking off.

"Man what a jerk." Kankuro muttered, getting a few murmurs of agreement from his peers.

"Now with that upstart out of the way a can do what I set out to do. Why is it that you people have come to this village for these exams?" Hinata demanded. There were dumfounded looks from all Spirit nin, except for Hanabi who was blissfully chowing down on her ramen.

"Not that its any of your business Miss Hyuuga-"

"You will address me as Lady Hinata." The Hyuuga heiress commanded.

"But our leader decided that now was he most appropriate time for us to show ourselves to the Elemental nations, and the 5 main super powers of the continent, with the exception of Hidden Mist." Shinkou continued like he hadn't been interrupted at all.

"I find that a plausible excuse." Hinata conceded. "However I can sense a great deal of power from all of you, is your leader a coward, not wanting to show himself to the Elemental nations?" Hinata asked snidely. Hanabi whirled around to glare at Hinata, Byakugan blazing.

"Don't you dare call my father a coward! My father is the strongest man on the planet, he fears nothing, he said that the time was right to show ourselves to the rest of the world so we have, my dad is really smart, he never does anything without a reason!" Hanabi defended.

"Hanabi that's enough!" Naruto called, materializing between Hinata and Hanabi. "I'll not have any of my people, my daughter least of all, throwing a tantrum over a few words spoken from ill-informed people, no matter who they may be." Naruto sighed. "I understand what you were doing Hanabi but you have to realize that sometimes you just can't go around yelling at people, you have to be the better person, understand?" Hinata's gaze shot back to Hanabi, giving her such an intense look it began to freak the younger girl out.

"Wh-what are you looking at?"

"Hanabi…you're really here! I never thought I'd ever see you again, I've missed you so much." Hinata exclaimed moving towards the smaller girl as she spoke. Hanabi looked at her as if she were crazy.

"Who the hell are you?" was Hanabi's immediate response, only to get smacked upside the head by her father for her choice of words.

"I am Hinata Hyuuga, I'm your sister, I'd recognise you anywhere no matter how many years have gone by." Hinata explained trying to get closer to her long lost sister though Naruto was blocking her advancement.

"Whaa…?" was all Hanabi could get out.

"And you…" Hinata continued, steering her gaze to Naruto, her Byakugan flaring and emitting a sizable level of killing intent. "Are the one that took her from me and my family! I'll kill you!" in the blink of an eye Hinata had launched a Gentle Fist strike into Naruto's chest area, where he promptly exploded into smoke with a resounding boom. In the back of Hinata's mind was the idle thought.

'Why didn't I see anything but chakra when looking at that guy?'

* * *

AN: Now I may receive a few comments that I've made Naruto too powerful too early and that it isn't cool to do so but let me point out that in the current manga Madara is so uber powerful he's pretty much godlike, I'm just leveling the playing field in advance.

As per usual in my end of chapter authors note (assuming your actually reading this, as I know a lot of people that don't) if you spot an error or other mistakes please point them out and I will do what I can to correct them.

If you have any questions about the chapter, or other past chapters, that you'd like to ask me then please ask me and I will do my best to answer them.

Now I'm not saying feedback (aka reviews) is a must but it does keep the motivation going to write a chapter, the more feedback I receive the faster I will be in writing a chapter that I am comfortable with posting (I went through 7 to 11 drafts before settling on this one) and updating the story with. And if you are going to flame me, please be constructive, if you think its crap, tell me WHY so I might try to improve.

Lastly if anyone has any suggestions on what should happen next feel free to share your thoughts with me, it helps with the creative process if there's more to work with then trying to make it up out of thin air.

Until next time, Ladies, Gents, boys and girls.

* * *

AN2: I've written myself into a near dead-end with this one, I NEED readers ideas on what to do for chapter 15, without them the quality of the next chapters I post are going to go down the drain faster than Chouji can eat BBQ pork.

I'm serious here people, chapter 15 is supposed to be a small filler for the leading up for the exams (because I stupidly set a week or so gap between when they arrived and when the exams start) and anything I write is coming out piss poor. At this point in time I'll take anything as long as it gets my imagination going again.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: Greetings loyal readers, the panda bear with a mini-gun here with a new chapter!

This chapter hasn't been looked over by other eyes (I.e. my beta) because I've been unable to get in contact with him, which he explained to me might happen and would not be able to be my beta for much longer, I've not heard back from him so this chapter is not yet beta'd so should you find something out of place, an error or whatnot please tell me.

Now with that said I am in the search for a new beta, I have approached a couple beta's for their services but have not as of yet heard back from them. If you think you can be of assistance to me in this story as a beta then please come forward, as much as I'd like to think I could, I cannot do this all by myself.

Without further pause, I present Chapter 15!

* * *

Second after she had struck her sisters kidnapper Hinata took her sisters hand and bolted from the ramen stand. Teuchi looked on in confusion at the whole scene.

'Ninja's were so weird, oh well at least the little lady paid for her meal.' The ramen vendor thought. Hanabi's comrades gave a cursory glance at the spectacle before turning back to their food; Hanabi was more than able to take care of this situation by herself. The other Leaf ninjas having departed almost as soon as Hinata had touched the foreign leade, fear of retribution in their minds.

'This'll be enough money to last quite a while.' Teuchi thought idly as he eyed the smoke cloud that was still hanging around from after that Hyuuga had hit that guy. 'Why's that stuff still hanging around?' he asked himself, completely befuddled.

Meanwhile in Naruto's mindscape Naruto was hovering over a frantic Hitomi who was clutching her swollen belly, a terrified expression adorned on her flawless face.

"What happened?" he asked immediately.

"**That girl…injected chakra into us, it's hurting the baby, get it **_**out**_**."** Hitomi cried. Naruto immediately dropped to Hitomi's side, placing his hand over her pregnant belly and focusing on the chakra's fluxing in Hitomi's body. Naruto gingerly pushed his hand into Hitomi's stomach, his energy melding with those within, careful not to lose concentration. Finding the foreign chakra Naruto took hold of the energy and began to absorb it. Several excruciating moments later Naruto extracted his hand from Hitomi, who was panting and sweating profusely.

"I did not expect that to happen, if I knew something like this was going to happen I'd never have let myself get hit, I'm so sorry." Naruto apologized.

"**Not…Your fault, we had no idea what might have happened if we got hit with the Gentle Fist, now we know to avoid it in the future. Now I think we have to go find our daughter, it seems as though she was whisked away by her sister seconds after she hit us."** Hitomi instructed. Naruto looked unsure.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"**You'll feel it if I'm not, go now before something happens to our daughter**." Hitomi commanded. In the blink of the eye Naruto was gone.

Hanabi was getting quite fed up with the treatment she was under, being dragged by the arm by this girl as not comfortable, given their height difference, and she had had just about enough of being dragged around.

"Listen, I don't care **who** you are but if you don't let go of me **right now** I'm going to really hurt you!" she threatened.

"I told you before, I'm your sister, my name is Hinata, and we're going to the Hyuuga clan complex to figure out how to undo whatever it is that that monster did to you so you can be with your family again." Hinata said as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

'She wants to take me away from my friends and family, she wants to take me away from mom and dad.' With this thought Hanabi took hold of the arm that Hinata was dragging her with and yanked it hard, making the older girl stumble, with training gained from her grandmother Tsunade this as done with ease. With this moment of imbalance Hanabi shot her other hand forward to the elbow joint of the arm that was holding her, with a loud crack Hinata's arm went lax and her grip on Hanabi's arm vanished. Hanabi was quick to move away from the girl as she held her injured arm, looking completely lost for words at what had just happened.

"How…what…why did you do that?" Hinata demanded. Hanabi looked at Hinata with an indifferent expression bordering on contempt.

"I will not be taken from the life I live, I will fight for my right to live it with the people I choose, as is my right as a spirit ninja of the land of Sea. No one, not you of anyone from this village is going to tell me otherwise, my life is not here with the Hyuuga clan and I will fight anyone that thinks otherwise." Hanabi declared.

"You know Hyuuga heiress, you almost cost this village and its citizens their lives," Naruto said, appearing next to Hanabi in a cloud of smoke, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder. "I warned the village's council and your Hokage that any attempt at taking Hanabi from me would result in the destruction of this entire village, that is not a bluff, I'll let it slide seeing as you yourself weren't present at that meeting and weren't told of this but I warn you, do so again and I'll _vaporise_ your body." Naruto warned his words deathly calm.

"You've brainwashed her, she doesn't belong with you, she belongs with me and my family," Hinata retorted. "She is my sister."

"So you keep saying." Hanabi said shortly. "I admit you might look like family but you don't act like it, I know where I belong and it isn't here with you or the Hyuuga clan." Hinata took a step back at Hanabi's words before levelling a glare at Naruto seconds later.

"You've brainwashed my sister, I'll see you dead if it's the last thing I do, mark my words." Hinata said repeated scathingly before turning tail and walking away.

'What the hell did she do to my arm; it feels like it weighs a ton…' Hinata thought as she held her dead arm with her other, headed to the hospital to get it looked at.

Back with Naruto and Hanabi Naruto sent a reproached look at his daughter.

"You shouldn't have done that; it'll make problems for us in the future." He chastised. Hanabi crossed her arms and huffed.

"I was being dragged away against my will, what did you think I was going to do? She wanted to steal me back to her clan; I just showed her how I felt about that idea." Hanabi defended.

"To be fair you are part of that clan, genetically speaking that is, so I can see where that girl was coming from but that doesn't matter, after all your baby sister needs you, there is nothing anyone can do to stop what is already in motion." Naruto replied.

"Speaking of the baby, what are you and mum thinking in terms of names?" Hanabi perked up.

"Hikari if it's a girl, which it most likely will be, the baby will take on your characteristics and appearance when the baby is placed inside of you, I have my doubts about it being a boy but if it is a boy I'd like to name him after my father, after all if it weren't for him I wouldn't have ever met your mother, I'd never have taken you in and our village would never exist."

"Hikari or Minato…I like it!" Naruto chuckled at her exuberance.

"Thought you might, now what do you say about having a quick run around the village, Spirit ninja style? We can't have anyone slacking off just because we're out of the village now can we?" Hanabi's eyes widened with glee before she started jumping around rapidly, doing cartwheels and flips. Naruto grinned; this was going to be fun.

Elsewhere

Gaara, Yugito and Fū were within the area of one of the Leaf village's many training grounds, this one quite close to the village as so that they didn't go too far away if they were needed. Yugito was sitting on a tree stump as she practiced her fire conjuring, the blue, almost black flames of her inner demon dancing in her palm as she moulded it into different shapes and sizes, changing the potency of the temperature every so often. She was practicing fire conjuring, this kind especially because she has been told that these blackish flames were very formidable, almost on par with Shinkou's black flames , and that the heat generated from these flames alone would render a great many ninja techniques near useless if Yugito were to use this ability wisely enough. Her stump was proof of her skill, she had sliced the tree that, had once been a tree, clean though, the heat enough to turn the falling trunk to ash.

Off to the side Fū was creating and collapsing wind chakra constructs of her tailed beasts seven wings, the acidic green chakra keeping her in a state of suspended animation above the ground some 7 meters high. Next to Naruto she was the best flyer in the entire Spirit village, with her being able to propel herself with wind natured chakra with her many wings making her almost impossible to react to when she had her 7 wins beating at the speed so fast that all that anyone could see was an eerie green blur behind her.

Gaara was the only one of the trio who was standing in the middle of the field, the various surrounding trees all having sizable indentations and actual holes in them, courtesy of Gaara's Wind Bow. Gaara had thought up the idea of the Wind Bow from seeing the long ranged weapon of non-ninja weaponry on one of his last missions. He garnered that the idea of long ranged, sharpshooting was an ideal, wickedly effective method of killing your opponent, it would cheapen the art of combat but in the end as long as you killed your target the how, he reasoned, didn't matter in the least.

Taking the concept of the bow and arrow, and all its variant designs into account Gaara designed a chakra construct made of focused Wind aligned chakra that shot Wind arrows at lightning speed that pierced anything if the correct force was used to fire the arrow. This was one of Gaara's main weapons of choice as he could create the bow in his hands in nanoseconds and have an arrow shot of in the time it took a person to breathe, with the arrows he shot off being created from his wind chakra he could shoot off as many as he wished, in any number at any time, the more potent the chakra for the arrow, the greater the piecing strength and speed of the arrow.

He had tested his arrows against other chakra constructs, such as Yugito's fireballs, the combined reaction of wind and fire being a scorching firebomb that could incinerate anything caught in its blast radius of several meters, making them an obvious deadly team, and with Fū mixed in to blow the flames created anywhere with her wings or other wind attacks they were a devastating trio in terms of demolition and wanton slaughter.

"Man this sucks, I know I kind of get why Lord Reikage had us come here a week and a bit in advance prior to the exams actual starting date, so that we could adjust ourselves properly to a 24 hour timetable but there is nothing here for us to do, I'm bored out of my mind sitting around here just practicing, I want to have some fun!" Fū declared loudly. Gaara and Yugito both groaned; this was the third time in the last hour that Fū had said this, and it was getting on their nerves.

"We get it already, you're bored, shut the hell up!" Yugito snapped, her usual Zen like patience reaching its end. "I swear if something doesn't pop up in the next minute I'll transform and destroy something!" she raved.

"Looks like you'll get your wish Yugito, something's heading this way, one of the ninja that escorted us here, the one with a dog, is headed our way if I'm not mistaken." Fū called from high in the air. Yugito groaned.

'Why did I have to open my mouth, I hate dogs.' Yugito whined.

'**Don't blame me, that has nothing to do with me; I'm not **_**really**_** a cat, I just act like one.'** Nibi purred in her head.

'You might not be an actual cat but you're as good as! Why are you awake anyway, weren't you sleeping just before?' Yugito snarled.

'**Whoa someone has her claws out, if you must know I **_**was**_** sleeping but the smell of dog woke me up, just before you started ranting about being bored. But that doesn't matter now, I won't get to sleep again if the stench of dog is nearby, might as well watch the shit your about to cause.'** Nibi replied. Any further chatter was cut off when Akamaru came to a skidding stop right in front of Yugito, a growl coming from the white puppy.

"…Akamaru what are you…doing…?" Kiba asked as he came to a stop next to his canine companion before noticing his canine partner's actions. "Someone reeks of cat…oh it's you guys, I didn't recognise you with your hoods, why do you reek of cats?" Kiba asked motioning to Yugito.

"Mate, whoever you are, you better start running, Yugito hates dogs and your talking to her like that will put you into an early grave." Gaara piped up from his position in the clearing.

"Yeah, and she's also quite sensitive about her scent, if you don't want to get mauled, run like the hounds of hell are after you." Fū deadpanned. Kiba became irate.

"What are you talking about? I'm not some upstart that's going to get his ass kicked by a smelly cat lady! I'm Kiba Inazuka!" Kiba declared, getting only growls from Akamaru.

"You'll be dead if you don't fuck off, right now!" Yugito said through gritted teeth.

"Hey I don't know if you've noticed but you're in my home village, you can't just threaten to kill me here, not that you could in the first place…" Kiba said before he felt the building of concentrated Killing Intent settle around him. Gaara and Fū shared a look quickly before they shot into action, Gaara erecting a soil hand from the ground, grasping onto Yugito's body while Fū used her wings to create a small tornado that picked up Kiba and Akamaru before unceremoniously throwing them far off in the direction that they had first come in.

"I was so close to killing that little ingrate…" Yugito seethed while both Fū and Gaara shared a sigh of relief, they didn't need any of the attention from Anbu or the Hokage for injuring of killing one of their stupid genin.

Back in the Hidden Spirit village in the depths of the many labs centre, the lead scientist in charge of studying the prisoner that Shinkou had helped in capturing years ago, was diagnosing the inert black side of Zetsu, the flytrap surrounding it having been removed when he was first brought in. They had run all kinds of tests they could think of on Zetsu with minimal success, the head scientist hoped that this latest test's results would glean some fruit; Shinkou had said that this…things job was vital so they had to know everything about it that they could gather.

"What the…" he muttered under his breath as the results for the chakra based scans were printed out. "Oh my…this can't be…" he leafed through the results quickly before the colour drained from his face.

"I have to tell Lord Reikage! And inform the chief of staff at the hospital about this." He said with conviction before placing his hand over his Seal and activating it, opening a link with his leader.

'Lord Reikage, Sir! We have some urgent news has come up in our research and development labs, specifically regarding that black and white prisoner that you and Master Kougi captured years ago.' The Spirit village researcher called through his mark to Naruto's mind. Instantly Naruto was on edge, that guy was completely irresponsive to everything that was previously done to him; both halves were basically inert after the initial capture.

'Yes and…?' Naruto prodded. There was hesitation before he got an answer.

'Sir you're going to have to actually see this, this is unlike anything ever conceived in medical science so far...this is remarkable and quite frankly, sir, very disturbing.' The researcher explained.

'You do realize that I am within another village at the present time, and my leaving suddenly will cause all kinds of hell to erupt, don't you? If you say it is that important, I get back and it turns out to be less than spectacular news you're going to pay for my daughters ramen tab for a month, do I make myself clear?' Naruto threatened.

'Crystal clear, sir.' The researcher gulped, Hanabi's tabs were monstrous in size.

'Very well, I have to inform the squad masters of my departure; I'll be back in a day or so, have to be careful with Akatsuki on the prowl.' Naruto replied before exploding into smoke and vanishing, Hanabi was running circles around the village, she'd have to be told from the others after Itachi told them why he was going back home. Meanwhile the scientist breathed a sigh before touching his Seal again to contact Tsunade; he did _not_ want to be the one doing this.

'It sucks being the one to give bad news.'

Naruto entered the hotel room he had booked them into and spread a privacy barrier on the room's walls, roof and ceiling before calling Shinkou to him.

'Shinkou return to the hotel, I have instructions to give you.' He said promptly. Less than 5 minutes later Itachi's alter ego entered the room before bowing at Naruto, in respect, closing the door and standing at attention in front of his Kage.

"You summoned me Lord Reikage?" he enquired.

"Yes, a development has come up at home and I must return, therefore for the duration of my absence I am placing you, Kai and Rōshi in charge of the teams until I return with you as commander." Naruto answered.

"Understood sir." He paused a moment before continuing. "If I may, sir, why are you returning home?"

"The black and white Akatsuki member you helped capture and imprison, Zetsu, the one in charge of analysing and studying his body has made a breakthrough and he insists that I need to see their findings in person, therefore I will be unavailable for the tasks here in the village before, during and after these exams, I am entrusting you to carry them out in my stead." Naruto explained. Shinkou's eye widened fractionally, they found out something about Zetsu? He was beginning to think that the mysteries surrounding that plant like thing were going to remain thus, but he was proven wrong.

"Very well, I imagine that you wish for me to relay this information to everyone else?" Shinkou enquired.

"That's right, I also want to go over with you the tasks that need to be done here in the village, while we are here and have the opportunity. We have to destroy your old home, the entire Uchiha district there within that ancient tablet that can only be read with your families eyes, as you informed me, it has information on it too dangerous to be left alone, I do not care how you do it as long as that tablet is dust at the end of it. Secondly Sasuke Uchiha must be killed, I'll not have a pair of Sharingan eyes free to roam around with Madara out there with the ability to nullify or completely control me, or my brethren. Now with that said I know you take Sasuke upon yourself as your responsibility, so therefore you will undertake this task. However you cannot do it during the exams, unfortunately, there are a lot of people around the Elemental nations that want to see your brother fight, and we need publicity for clientele, so you have up to a month after the exam finishes, to craft a scenario that will accomplish this."

"Yes sir, understood. Is there anything else?"

"In conjunction with killing your brother, you have to either destroy or harvest his eyes while they are active, while the Sharingan is a vile and corruptive bloodline trait it has its uses in medical science and Tsunade would like to have something which to run tests with, ultimately to research on how to defeat Madara and his Sharingan, as he is of course, nigh immortal with it. This will also have the added benefit of not leaving anything around for scavengers to pilfer for experiments. " Naruto explained.

"Yes sir, I understand what you're saying, it will be done, covertly, and I think I know just how to go about it too."

"Very good, I will leave the privacy barrier up in this room; we can't have anyone listening in on what we're planning to do. I have something that I need to pick up from the Hokage before I leave, though I am leaving straight after that, so good luck." Naruto said before vanishing. Shinkou took to sitting on one of the beds, thinking of what needed to be done.

2 hours later Shinkou moved from the bed, placing his hand to his Seal and calling all of his comrades within the village.

'Everyone report back to the hotel, there are a few things that need to be discussed, something has come up that has called Lord Reikage back home urgently.' He sent out. Receiving affirmatives from everyone Shinkou sat back down and got comfortable, this was going to take a while.

"Things are going to heat up for the chuunin exams, I have no doubt that the Leaf village will survive but not without a dear cost." He murmured with a devious chuckle.

Sarutobi was feeling on edge, for the better part of 3 days the Spirit ninja under Naruto's command had managed to shake up the village, and the white haired man was on edge due to being unable to listen in on what he and his ninja were up to with his Crystal ball which was unable to focus in on the Hotel room that they were all staying in.

'He must have put up a barrier seal in or around the room to keep anyone from listening in on him; his knowledge of seals is remarkable, almost to the level of his parents if I had to guess.' He thought before his thoughts went to the altercation between the Hyuuga heiress and her estranged sister.

'That will undoubtedly cause quite a few waves within the political circles of the village…but you would have known that bringing Hanabi here would cause that, wouldn't you Naruto? What are you planning…?' The unknown possibilities ate at his mind relentlessly. Hiruzen touched the scroll within his robes, the scroll with the knowledge of the Reaper Death Seal that he had made, as per Naruto's demands earlier.

Sarutobi's eyes were quick to notice seconds later the shape and transparency of Naruto's form that was solidifying right before his eyes in the middle of his office.

"Old man, I have come for what I have asked of you, the scroll please." Naruto said offering an upturned hand for the scroll. Hesitantly Hiruzen reached into his robe and retrieved the aforementioned document. Taking the scroll and opening it to check its authenticity and possible traps. Seeing it as the genuine article Naruto rolled the scroll up and pushed one end into his palm, the Hokage watching as the scroll vanished completely. "Thank you Sarutobi, know that this may come in handy for you down the road, now I owe you…though you can't have Hanabi returned as payment for this; just in case you were thinking of that possibility." Naruto said before becoming translucent before fading away completely, vanishing again.

'I'm getting too old for this shit, I can only fathom how Danzō would have taken this job having to sit at a desk all day signing papers…it'd be a nightmare if it were more than just the village and Fire Country.' The Third thought as he continued to fill out paperwork.

Hinata was quite irate, after arriving at the hospital she had to wait for an entire hour before she was seen by a medic, which after being examined, told her that her arm was stunned with an injection of chakra in her elbow joint, and it would take a few hours for it to wear off after the injected chakra faded away.

'Like I didn't know that already!' Hinata snarled inwardly as the medic numbed her arm completely to nullify the pain in her joint before setting it in a sling and sending her off. Hinata decided after that to head home, she wanted to talk to her father about the council meeting that was specific to the Hyuuga.

The Sentries at the front on the Hyuuga estate gave her a wide birth as she passed them, she was no happy and when she wasn't in a good mood bad things tended to happen to them and those within the Branch House. They were curious, as well as scared out of their minds when they noticed that Hinata had her arm in a sling but dared not ask her what happened for fear of being punished. Hinata blew passed them into the Main House complex, making a beeline for her father's office, everyone seeing her giving her a wide birth.

The usually quiet sliding doors within the house were thrown back violently as Hinata came into her father's study, the doors making a loud clang as they slammed back into the walls. Hiashi instantly took note of Hinata's condition and shot upright.

"Hinata, what happened?" he demanded, not out of any particular fatherly concern but because Hinata was, for better or worse, the only heir he had; and regardless of her actual skills as a shinobi she was going to lead the clan weather he liked it or not, so his concern was to the image and prosperity of the Hyuuga family.

"The Spirit ninja partaking in the exams…they are deceptively strong…Hanabi did this to me with a single jab to my elbow, rendering my arm temporarily useless making it a very heavy deadweight." Hinata explained stonily. Hiashi's face paled slightly, Naruto's words from before entering his mind.

"What did you do?" he asked cautiously.

"When I realized who it was I took her by the arm to be brought here, to her rightful home where she belongs so that we could undo the brainwashing that that thing has done to her." Hinata spat. "I was doing her a favour and she attacks me for it."

"Foolish girl, you nearly killed us all!" Hiashi roared making Hinata jump, if only slightly. "That man, the one claiming to be Hanabi's father has threatened annihilation of this village if any harm is to be directed towards her, similarly if anyone attempts to detain her here within the village walls."

"He told me that he had threatened the village, that I wouldn't be killed for my actions towards Hanabi because I hadn't been told about his warnings." Hinata replied snidely. "He boasts, he exploded from a single Gentle Fist strike he cannot possibly be that powerful."

"What did you say?" Hiashi asked instantly, her words intriguing and terrifying him all at once.

"When that man tried to stop me I struck him with the Gentle Fist and he exploded and did not reform like I have witnessed previously, leading me to the conclusion that the Gentle First can harm him to a certain degree." Hinata explained.

'It is my dream to save my sister, now I know who I have to remove before her recovery can begin and the brainwashing undone.' Hinata declared, in her mind she had seen the face of evil and she was going to destroy it to get her sister back.

Hiashi meanwhile was thrown for a loop when Hinata explained that she had potentially wounded one of the most dangerous and powerful people on the planet with a single hit of the Gentle Fist.

"You attacked the Reikage of the Hidden Spirit village and he let you live," Hiashi began, after processing this new information. "You do realise how lucky you are to be alive right now, correct? It might interest you to know that the Reikage is also the Chakra Demon, who has the ability to vaporise a persons' body with a mere blink of the eye. He is known nationally as an S class shinobi and a flee on sight order issued to those within the borders of Rain country for vaporising all shinobi that got in his way, turned their bodies into red vapour that mixed in with the rain that is almost always present in that country."

"If he is so powerful why is he here?"

"Publicity if I'm not mistaken, a lot of people come from all over the continent to watch the exam finals." Hiashi replied.

"That makes sense, assuming that any of his ninja reach the finals there will be a lot of foreigners to take the news of their village back to their home countries, and assuming that everyone finds out that this Chakra demon has a village of his own, with his own shinobi, with a reputation like his he will generate a very good client base." Hinata concluded.

"I believe I've heard all I need to know about this for now." Hiashi said. "Onto other matters, the Hyuuga elders have granted permission for you to learn the process for the Hyuuga clan Curse Seal that binds the Hyuuga Branch house to the Main branch. Should all else fail, by the end of the exams the Elders have decreed that Hanabi is to receive the Seal before she leaves to the Land of Sea, so that the secrets of the Byakugan remain thus." Hiashi revealed. Hinata gaped at her father in astonishment at the elders plan.

"B-But Father! That's enslavement!" Hinata sputtered.

"The council and I have little choice, it is either that or we arrest her into clan custody and doing that will get everyone killed. Unless you can come up with a different idea this is the course of action we _will_ take." Hiashi declared. Hinata didn't outwardly react, however on the inside she was seething.

'This will get nothing done at all, and my years of training will have been all for nothing!'

"So why did my dad get called home, what's going on?" Hanabi asked as everyone stood lined up in front of Shinkou.

"New intelligence gathered from one of our scientists with very important information regarding future events. That is all I am at liberty to say." He said, not going into specifics, not wanting to waste time on details they did not need to know.

"Until such time that Lord Reikage can return he has placed me in command of operations here before, during and after the exams." These words touching Rōshi's nerves and temper.

"Why you and not me or Kai?" Rōshi grunted in irritation.

"Several reasons, one is because this was once my home, I know how things work in this village as very little, if anything, has changed about its operation. Second is because I am not a host like you or Kai, you have responsibilities that I do not; and lastly, because Lord Reikage said so. Is that satisfactory?" Shinkou answered with a raised brow. Rōshi grunted but said nothing further.

"Ok then Master Kougi, what is it that would have us do?" Kai asked attentively. Shinkou shifted his position, his demeanour becoming serious.

"For the brief period between now and the beginning of the First third of the Chuunin exam you'll…"

In his subterranean base of operations Root Commander Danzō Shimura was overlooking documents on his desk, the files centred on the chuunin participants from the Hidden Spirit Village. He had had teams of his best recon specialists shadow their every move, he knew that letting them go unchecked would prove to be a disaster, indeed the appearance of the Hyuuga clan heads missing daughter rang alarm bells in his head about the villages security; the possible implications of this nearly overwhelming the war hawks brain with possible scenarios.

'So much to account for with little to go on with what to expect…' he mused. Looking over the personal files that he was able to have compiled on the three Spirit teams he was able to deduce where most of them had either came from of grown up before being in the Chakra demon's service.

'That boy is far too powerful, with him in the picture all of my plans are for naught.' He thought with a sneer. His eyes landed on the file of the team led by Rōshi, the former ninja of the Hidden Stone village, as far as the intelligence of his foreign nation operatives had gathered. He had determined that the red haired male and his team were the 'wrecking crew' of the three teams, able to identify the three teammates as former secret weapons of their respective villages, Sand villages Shukaku, Cloud Villages Nibi and Hidden Waterfall's Nanabi.

'What are your objectives here…?'

Days later, for Naruto was being cautious in getting back home over the seas and high winds, Naruto flew towards the arch, the portal opening allowing him entrance before closing immediately behind him. Safely in his village Naruto changed back to normal, gaining the immediate attention of the people monitoring the portal for activity.

"Sir welcome back, I've been told that they are in your office waiting for you." One said. Naruto nodded.

"Very good, as you were." He said before vanishing. Reaching his office and opening the door Naruto took note that not only was his Head of Research here but also Tsunade, who looked none too happy. Next to her was a passive Kazumi.

"Welcome back Naruto, now nice of you to join us." Tsunade said with a sarcastic barb.

"I'd have been here sooner but amongst other reasons, with Hitomi's due date drawing closer I've had to extra careful, I can't go as fast as I usually would."

"That is true, and truthfully it doesn't matter how long it took for you to get back, the main thing is that you are here. Now as to why we are all here, Nikol if you would?" Kazumi asked indicating to the Head of Research Nikol. The aforementioned man withdrew a scroll from his person.

"This is everything that we can find out about Zetsu, as Master Shinkou called it." He said, placing the scroll upright in a circular indentation on Naruto's desk. Instantly the data from the scroll was projected from the scroll into the middle of the room as a hologram. "Firstly, his genetic makeup is very similar to that of Lady Tsunade's, suggesting that whoever he is, whoever _they_ are, as both white and black sides are seemingly independent of the other, they have a connection to the deceased First Hokage, to what extent I am unsure." There was a tense silence as this information was digested.

"I can only assume that this would mean that the body of your grandfather has been exhumed and experimented on." Kazumi pondered.

"That is a possibility, I know that Orochimaru tried to experiment with my grandfather's genes but that was met with complete failure."

"Yes, but as I said before, Zetsu was not created in a lab, but grown from a plant. Also whilst Zetsu was grown and not created, the body became inert after imprisonment became inevitable, even his internal organs don't work; it's as if he was a drone with conscious thought, but ultimately he is a flesh robot." Nikol finished.

"Madara had to have HashiramaSenju's body either exhumed or somehow acquired living tissue of your grandfather and somehow planted it to create this thing; of this I have little doubt. There is no proof of this, nor will there ever be, unless Madara himself confirms it, but I believe it is the only thing that we can determine from our flytrap wearing prisoner. He is to be kept where he is, just in case whatever it is that makes him sentient is reactivated, however there is something I'd like for you to do Tsunade, I need you to amputate his hand with his Akatsuki ring, those things are valuable to Madara, Itachi explained that the rings are used in the demon extraction process, the less they have the longer it takes to perform the extraction. Now I don't plan on letting them have any of our friends, I just like to have a bargaining chip, should I need it."

"Insurance, in case all your plans turn to shit." Tsunade said with a grin.

"Call it what you will, but I want that ring before I leave again." Naruto said leaning back in his chair. "Nikol if that's all you can go back to work." Nikol and Tsunade left his office, leaving him with his Sealing mentor.

"What is it Naruto?" the elderly woman asked.

"What can you tell me about the Hyuuga Clan Cursed Seal for the branch family?" Kazumi's face portrayed the complete shock she felt; of everything that she had thought she's ask him, this was not it.

"Why?"

"I want to see if it is at all possible to apply my Seal Breaker to it, if I can play my hand well I may be able to break the shackles of the Hyuuga clan's branch family and offer them sanctuary here, it beats having them go through a civil war they're bound to have if I can get the Seal broken. Plus it will bolster our own numbers considerably." He answered. "If we can pull this off then the Leaf Village will be none the wiser until it's too late."

* * *

AN: That my friends is the conclusion of chapter 15, probably not up to the standard of my usual sub par work and completely not what any of you were expecting, but hey, at least the story is progressing. (even if I blew up the expected confrontation of Hanabi and Hinata and then failed to deliver on its supposed grandness, in the minds of you readers, and thus fall flat on my face as a result. If you flame me for this failure I'll tell you to fuck off, I don't have a flair for dramatics, so sue me. Don't waste your time and mine by telling me shit I already know.)

And I apologize to those of you who are sick of or annoyed at me for centering the last few chapters on the Hyuuga clan but it IS necessary, if you flame me for it you can go to hell and fry.

Hopefully Chapter 16 will be up in the not too distant future as a lot of it is already written, I'm just hoping for some feedback from you all to help shape it more with your own thought and ideas that will help make this story even more kickass (or bring it to kickass status) than it is already. It'd also help if I had a beta to help me but that's a work in progress, remember if your interested tell me.

Also you'll notice that this chapter is without a title like all the others, if you like you can suggest 1 as I cannot think up 1 at the moment.

See you all soon (hopefully) with chapter 16.

R & R


	16. Chapter 16

AN: Alright, chapter 16 is here, it'd have been quicker if it weren't for that Type 2 error that kept popping up, many thanks to Futon Lord for informing me about the workaround otherwise this chapter would've been delayed even longer.

I'd like to thank my brother for reading through this chapter before I posted it, your extra set of eyes are invaluable.

Nothing else to say really, on with the story!

* * *

'_Foolish little brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me. And yet survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life, and when you have the same eyes as mine, come to me.__'_ The last words to his little brother played through his head making Shinkou shake his head sadly. He had wanted Sasuke to use his hatred to propel him to a level of power that would redeem him for his actions that night. Instead Sasuke had succumbed to his hatred, letting it rule him and his actions and dooming him in the end.

'Granted, he wanted to gain our fathers respect and admiration as an Uchiha, falling into the mindset father preached, that the Uchiha were the superiors of everyone and second to no one.' He sighed as he slinked into the currently deserted Uchiha complex. Entering the main hall Shinkou crept his way through till he came to the main shrine. Like with the tablets last resting place it was hidden within an underground cavern, the entrance covered by a tatami mat. Shifting the mat to the side Shinkou began his decent into the Hidden room of the Uchiha clan, where a tablet of secrets pertaining to the secrets of the Mangekyō Sharingan were located as well as the story of the Sage of the Six Paths and the Ten-Tailed Beast, now resided.

'Lord Reikage wanted this thing destroyed; he left the means for me to decide…' Shinkou thought mulling over his options. Deciding what action to take, Shinkou moved to stand at the front of the tablet and with lightning precision, shattered the ancient tablet with a Grand Fireball, incinerating the ancient stone and starting a fire.

"It's ironic that our signature technique will be the destruction of our corrupt legacy. With this act Itachi Uchiha is truly dead." Shinkou muttered before vanishing from the area, leaving the flames of his attack to spread unaided till it consumed the entire house and continued outward to the entire district.

Scene Break

All nine of the Spirit ninja undertaking the exams walked toward the Leaf Village academy together, a show of force to the opposition.

"Master Shinkou told us that the exam that these leafies concoct usually have a hidden meaning, that things aren't what they appear to be." Kimimaro said moving to the wall of the building before scaling up the building to the third floor. The white haired teen turned to Hanabi who had her Byakugan activated, searching for the room with the most people in it, indicating to the test room.

"It's this way, follow me." She said taking the lead and walking across about 6 rooms before sticking her hand to a glass pane and pulling it up with her palm, chakra gluing the glass to her hand. The spirit ninja piled inside before closing the window.

"Hey what gives? Who the hell do you think you are coming in like that?" a contestant asked sharply, his headband showing the sign for Hidden Rain.

"Considering that this is isn't your home village you shouldn't be talking to us like that." Remarked Temari.

"Not to mention that you're picking fights with the wrong village considering the reputation our leader has with your nation." Gaara added, brandishing his Spirit Seal on his arm for all to see.

"You're under that monsters orders! Why the hell are you here?" another Rain nin demanded, though one could detect the quake in his voice.

"We're here for a chance at international promotion to chuunin, obviously." Isaribi replied dryly.

"The hell? Some of you look like you should be just out of nappies, not in the chuunin exam!" another cried.

"You might be twice my size but I could kill you in just a few seconds flat." Rei deadpanned getting a rise out of the Rain nin. About to stand next to her and stare her down he was suddenly jerked forward by an invisible force to be met with a kunai point centimetres from his eye.

"Case and point." She huffed shoving him back before taking a seat and leaning back on it.

"I'd like to suggest that you all kindly leave the room and forfeit the exams, or we'll end up killing you all." Kimimaro said calmly, bones protruding from his body making many people jump in surprise. The Kaguya too took a seat before closing his eyes and seemingly nodding off, his comrades taking his example and sat down and started napping. Quite irritated at being blatantly ignored there was a flooding of killing intent directed towards the three teams of Hidden Spirit ninja from all throughout the room.

"Hey! Fuck off!" Fū yelled by her position at the window, before sending her own KI, adding her inner demons power to it. Instantly the air in the room became thick with terror, several people pissing themselves with fear in the process. Yugito scowled in disgust when the smell hit her nose, as did Fū and Gaara.

"Bloody pathetic." She spat as those that wet themselves left the room to go to the bathroom. Kankuro nudged Gaara lightly in the shoulder.

"Hey Gaara, I bet you an entire c rank missions pay that this'll be a written test." The puppeteer egged. Gaara quirked an eyebrow at his older brother.

"Do I look like an idiot to you? No, I'll make you a counter bet, coz that one's just stupid; I bet you the same amount that before this portion of the exam is over, more than half of this room will have failed. In fact I'll add that they'll all quit when they realize that at some point they'll have to fight one us and when that happens, they'll die." He said with a burst of Shukaku's KI to silence any cries of outrage at his comment.

After 15 minutes of dead silence, because Gaara and Fū were taking it in turns making people piss themselves with KI, the door to the room slammed open and the members of team 8 marched into the room.

"Alright everyone, my name is Kiba Inuzuka and I'm going to kick all your asses!" he barked, getting a loud woof from his canine companion. Kiba was instantly levelled with glares.

"Find a seat and park your ass dog boy or you'll be the first I kill when the chance presents itself, should you even pass this part of the exam that is." Yugito shot waspishly with a quick burst of her demons power which had him effectively quaking and Akamaru to let his bladder loose inside Kiba's jacket making quite the comical scene. Shino adjusted his glasses and leaned forward to his teammate.

"I might suggest you quickly go to the bathroom to clean up." Shino's words the only prompt he needed to bolt for the bathroom.

"Our teams' standings have dropped considerably…and we only just arrived." Shino said tonelessly.

"They will complicate these exams a great deal; there is a great amount of fear in this room centred on them, be extra careful." He added. Hinata gave a stiff nod, her attention focused on Hanabi's form who was tilted back on a chair, her arms resting behind her head. About to march over to her estranged sister Hinata paused, remembering the words Hanabi had spoken previously, and decided against it, there would be another time better suited to the talk she wanted to have with her estranged sister.

The door slid open again and a slew of new teams entered the room, walking into a dense pressure that Hinata felt Fū and Gaara were taking turns in producing, that Hinata was able to cope with remarkably well.

'To throw other teams off their peak and sway the odds of the exam in their favour.' Hinata noted. Hinata looked over the new coming teams and wasn't surprised to see Team 10 show themselves. The heiress took note of their stiffening to the pressure in the room but was quick to put up a tough exterior as to not show that they were being affected by it. Shikamaru sighed dramatically as he made his way over to Team 8, Ino and Chōji following suit, Ino looking around the room for Sasuke and Chōji snacking on a bag of chips.

"You guys are in these exams too, man what a drag…" he drawled out as if even saying that sentence had taken effort on his part. The sound of quick footwork had everyone's attention drawn to Hanabi who was racing towards the door getting quite a few stares from the wannabe chuunin in the room, missing the tensing of the veins around her temples.

"Ha! Look at the little girl, running away before the exam even starts!" a Leaf gennin, Yoroi Akadō, called. Hanabi pivoted on her toes, and threw a KI bomb at him making him choke on his spit; despite the considerable age gap Hanabi had successfully stunned the older man with the psychic attack.

"I'm gonna go watch a stuck up asshole get the shit kicked out of him, anyone that wants to join me better be quick or you'll miss it." Hanabi rebuked before running out the door, a great many people following her, if only to escape the thick atmosphere that Gaara and Fū were generating.

Scene break

"...I believe that there are two different kinds of ninja, there are people like you who are born with talent and do not have to work at it, and those like me, that train every day of our lives. The fact is that your Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme taijutsu! Here is what I mean!" Lee declared before ducking under a punch to his face and launching a single kick to Sasuke's chin sensing him soaring high into the air. In an instant Lee vanished and appeared behind Sasuke's flying form. This was the scene that Hanabi and those that followed her bore witness to as the bandages from around Lee's hands began to unfurl.

"Dancing Leaf Shadow. Now I will prove my point, that hard work can beat natural talent! You're finished!" In a flash of movement Lee's loose bandage was pinned to the wall with a dart with a wind propeller attached at its end.

"Whoa, where did that turtle come from?" one of the spectators exclaimed as the turtle shouted at Lee. Lee's face went paste white as he landed in a kneel in front of the turtle, Sakura just barely able to reach Sasuke before he crashed into the ground.

"You were watching us the whole time?" Lee asked, his face downcast.

"Of course, that last technique is forbidden, you know that." The turtle admonished getting a few amazed looks from the onlookers.

'That must be a summon.' Rei concluded from her position by Hanabi.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to." Lee said looking at the ground. "Ah! I was not planning on using a forbidden jutsu!" Lee said quickly flailing his arms wildly. "It's just I was in the middle of a fight and I mean- you understand?"

"You're a disgrace!" the turtles words making Lee cringe. "You think you'll get away with a bunch of lame excuses like that? A shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary! It's such a basic rule you should know it by now!"

"Forgive me, sir." Lee asked humbly.

"Are you prepared to take the punishment for your actions?" the turtle asked making many observers look on in wonder, what was the turtle going to do to punish the weirdo?

"I…yes sir." Lee said, resigned.

"Alright then, please come out, Gai Sensei!" the turtle announced. What happened next though would be engrained on the minds of everyone till the day of their deaths. A man in a green leotard and a Leaf village flak jacket appeared on top of the turtle's shell standing on one leg and circling his eyes with one hand in a plume of smoke, creeping out everyone present, a great many people that were watching jumped in shock.

"Hey, what's shakin? How ya doin everybody? Life treatin ya good?" Gai said enthusiastically, creeping everybody out.

"Hi Lee." He said giving a thumbs up and a smile that pinged with a sparkle.

"AHHH! Those eyebrows and soup bowl haircut, someone should take him to a stylist!" Sakura screeched. This of course set Lee off.

"Hey! Do not insult Gai sensei! He's one of the greatest men in the entire world!" Lee shouted.

'That's debatable.' Hanabi thought quickly, an image of her dad flashing through her mind.

"Give it a rest Lee." Gai said waving his hand dismissively. Lee obeyed without complaint. "Now for your punishment!" he balled a first and threw it at Lee, socking him on the cheek. Shock and amusement were just some of the emotions running through those observing as Lee crashed into the ground. Gai got off the turtle and kneelt by Lee's downed form, who was slowly rising to his knees.

"I'm sorry Lee but it's for your own good." He said, streams of tears falling from his eyes. Rei felt a shock run through her small body, just before a sunset background suddenly dropped down on everyone's vision.

"Lee!"

"Gai sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai sensei!"

Remembering a description of something similar from one of the Masters that had seen something like this on one of their missions, Rei quickly flared her chakra and, using all the skills she possessed in the art of illusions, cast a wave towards the image just as a wave broke against the bank of the beach with the setting sun. The sound of a cracking lightning later and the image broke like glass, just as Gai and Lee were about to meet each other in an embrace with a wave of water in the background. Everyone stared at the hugging pair, and then turned to Rei then back to Gai and Lee.

"I had no idea that anything like that was possible outside of the spirit village, let's get the hell out of here before it happens again!" Rei said quietly, but everyone on the upper levels heard her. Instantly they all ran for the exit leaving a shell-shocked Team 7 and an incredibly confused Gai and Lee who did not feel any more 'full of youth' than before. The turtle on the other hand, had a look of recognition on its face.

'So Naruto's kids are here…interesting…' it though before dispelling, he had a tale to spread about how it was possible to break the sunset image. Gai and Lee were stupefied, something was wrong, something was missing.

"Where is our Springtime of Youth?" Gai asked, completely befuddled with Lee equally as stupefied.

Scene break

"What the _hell_ was that?" Hanabi demanded when they got back to the exam room, an incredulous expression on her face, though there was a hint of fear hidden in their pearly depths. Rei, for her part, could only shrug as she took a seat, resisting a shudder that threatened to tear through her body.

"I have no bloody idea what that was, all I know it wasn't a genjutsu, there was no chakra within it…but it was very creepy. Whatever that setting sun was, I'm very glad I was able to break it, I'm sure you've heard stories of a setting sun with waves in an image? We very nearly got the full blast of it." Rei explained. Hanabi turned to Isaribi, who had stayed behind in the exam room.

"So what's been happening while we were gone?" she asked the fish girl. Isaribi shrugged her shoulders towards Gaara, Yugito and Fū who were unleashing bursts of KI randomly at people watching their reactions.

"Nothing much, these three are having contests with KI bombs, seeing who they can get to quit before the exams actually start." She explained. Rei looked around.

"It seems to be working, there are at least 7 teams missing from before, though there are a few new ones too but hey that's 21 less competitors then before." The illusion expert noted.

"Little is going to deter the Rain team though; they seriously want revenge on Lord Reikage for his Red Rain stunt." Kankuro added.

"Not to mention that Sound team, they seem entirely to focused on ignoring everything around them, way too sure of themselves considering that they are from a brand new village that no one has heard of before, unlike us, who have a vast reputation even this far away from home." Kimimaro finished giving the team of two guys and a girl a cursory glance.

Further talk was dissuaded when the door slid open again, and Team 7 walked into the room, immediately becoming bogged down with the thick atmosphere that was wafting in the room. Oddly enough however, there was a team that was able to go about unscathed, a team from the leaf with two dark eyes and cloth covered faces and one with long greyish hair with a pair of glasses faming his face. Instantly all nine Spirit ninja knew to watch out for this guy, his chakra levels were way beyond what they should be, indicating extensive training beyond that of any gennin.

'He's one to watch out for, he's not like the others here, and I'm not just talking about his age either, he's got a lot more power than he should.' Isaribi thought, sending the message to her comrades through the Seal network. While this was going on the newbie leaf teams had congregated at the front, making quite a bit of noise where there once was dead silence.

"Excuse me for interrupting, you guys must be this year's rookies. I'm Kabuto. Take a look around," he said motioning behind him to the many teams that were looking at them intently. The rookies did as he suggested and soaked in the atmosphere that they had not consciously taken note of. Their eyes shifted to the back of the room to where the Spirit ninja were, giving them intense scrutinizing looks.

"There are a lot of people here that are quite nervous, especially those from foreign lands, those behind me are from the Hidden Rain and are famous for their short tempers. If you aren't careful, they might kill you, though their attention is focused elsewhere so you might be in luck. I can't blame you however; this _is_ your first time taking these exams. How's about I give you a few tips?" Kabuto asked airily. This piqued the interest of the Leaf teams and the attention of those around him.

"Is this your second try Kabuto?" Ino asked.

"No its my seventh, the exams are biannual, I've taken them 2 times every year for the past 4 years, and I still haven't passed." He answered.

"Then you must know a lot about these exams hmm?" Hinata asked curiously while simultaneously managing to sound haughty.

"You could say that," Kabuto said and pulled out a stock of cards, "I have collected all I know on the exam into these special info cards that I created. They are blank until I pump my chakra into one of them, making the information visible." Taking the top card from the deck and placing it on the ground he laced it with chakra, with a swirl and a poof a map was projected outward for the Leaf teams to see.

"This is the map of the shinobi lands, and which villages that have sent how many teams. I have information on nearly all of them, although on the team from Sound I don't know much, which goes double for the three teams from Hidden Spirit. New village and first time in the exam and all," Kabuto explained. "Sound is brand new but Spirit has been around for a quite a few years now, compared to Spirit ninja Sound ninja are probably weak."

"Do you have information on people individually?" Hinata asked, shooting a quick glance at her sister.

"I have data on nearly everybody, therefore I can uncover just about anything about a person in regards to their shinobi history. The only ones that I don't have anything on are the Spirit teams, nothing concrete other than their names and their team. But aside from them is there someone you are looking for?" he asked. Sasuke was first to speak.

"Give me all the information you have on Rock Lee of the Leaf Village." He demanded.

"I would also like to have any information you might have, however slight, on that girl over there." Hinata said indicating towards Hanabi. Kabuto turned to look at the one Hinata was indicating and lost colour in his face but did as asked nonetheless. He drew a card and flooded chakra with it, with a poof of smoke the once clear card was now decorated with info.

"You know his name, that makes this too easy." He boasted. "Rock Lee, he is one year older than you. His mission history is 20 D rank and 11 C rank. He has no talent for either ninjutsu or genjutsu; however his taijutsu has developed extremely this last year. He was praised as a skilled Genin, and this is his first time taking this exam. His teammates are Tenten and Hyuuga Neji. His Jounin sensei is Maito Gai." Kabuto recited. Eyes turned from Kabuto to Lee briefly before Kabuto drew their attention back to him.

"And next is that Spirit ninja." He picked up a card and flashed it with chakra. The card glowed for a second before it flew out of his hand, zooming across the room to Hanabi's hand. Catching the card and looking it over Hanabi walked calmly to the front of the room to stand next to Kabuto.

"You know more than you should Mr Kabuto, I have to wonder exactly how you got this information on me." She said calmly before ripping the card into pieces, the bits of card falling to the floor. "I'll be watching you." She said ominously, her Byakugan coming to life for a moment before she turned to leave.

The three Sound ninja suddenly rushed at the front, directly at Kabuto in payback for his crack at them being weak. The one covered in in bandages like a mummy with a furry lump on his back took a swing at Kabuto, who swerved out of the way. An instant later the glass of Kabuto's spectacles shattered and he doubled over on the ground and vomited.

"Put this in your info cards, the team from Sound will definitely be chuunin." The mummy ninja declared. Hanabi's brow creased at what she'd seen.

'He directed chakra to that thing on his arm that generated a sonic attack…interesting…' Hanabi noted as she took her seat by her team again. An instant later there was a surge of chakra at the front of the room making all 9 Spirit nin stand at the ready.

"Alright that's enough!" a new voice shouted as poofs of smoke appeared at the front of the room. "There is to be no fighting of any kind in these exams unless expressly stated by a governing proctor," a man with scars on his face with a trench coat and a bandana headband said gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "Do something stupid like that again Sound Ninja and I'll have you and your team disqualified before the exam even begins, am I understood?" he growled out, his voice like gravel.

"Forgive me and my team, we're just excited to start the exams." The mummy replied. The proctor just grunted before addressing everyone in the room.

Scene break

A knock on his door prompted Naruto to look up from his desk, which had seal diagrams spread out all throughout the 2 meter square table, varies arms brushing intricate lines all over the paper drawn out on the wooden surface.

"Come in." he called out, retracting the limbs back into his body just as the newcomer stepped into the room revealing Tsunade in her standard attire.

"Can I help you with something?" he queried.

"I need to leave for the Leaf village to administer Kimimaro's final treatment to cure him of his disease." The medic said bluntly and straight to the point.

"That's fine, leave at the earliest convenience; I can't have one of my finest dying of a stupid illness after all." Naruto said, having not looked away from his work.

"I need you to come with me, as you're my leader I need you there so that I don't get arrested by Leaf village shinobi."

"Because you being one of the Sannin means nothing now, what with that Snake face went rogue and you and the perv went wandering…you know I've been wondering why exactly you thought you had 'wandering privileges' after being given a title for losing a battle 3 to 1. But that doesn't matter now, sure I'll go with you, I need to speak to a few people there anyway." Naruto said standing up from his large table.

"So how are we getting there?" Tsunade asked with a raised brow prompting a smirk from Naruto's face.

"Space/time ninjutsu." Tsunade's eyes widened.

"What?"

"I can't afford to waste time on transport, and you wouldn't be able to cope with my top speed and it's getting too dangerous for me and any of the other Tailed ninja to go out by themselves, so I'll get Shinkou to drop a marker in the village with you as a passenger, we'll be there in an instant. Now with that said I can't use it in battle, it's not practical with my style of fighting, it also takes up too much time to set up." Naruto explained. Tsunade snorted.

"If you can even call what you do a style of fighting."

"Hey, don't knock it, to my knowledge so far there isn't any way to defend against it so why change a good thing?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"It'll take 15 or so minutes to have it set up, go get what you have to use for the treatment and meet me back here, I'll warn you now though, my way of doing it is a bit disorienting as mine is not my fathers. My way is far more messy then his was/is."

"Very well, I will be back soon with my equipment shortly." Tsunade said before vanishing from the office.

'This will be interesting…I wonder if it would be a good idea to try get that old monkey Hokage to unseal the scroll with my dad's will in it?'

'**How do you suppose people will react when you show up in public for the very first time?'** Hitomi asked curiously.

'Considering how I'm causing all kinds of hell out in the world with my double, causing all kinds of hell for Madara and the Akatsuki while spreading my name and that of my village out in the world, I'm sure I'll have quite a few people cake their pants. Right now I'm cleaning up a trade agreement out in the Land of Snow, bloody bastard thought he could get away with giving me dodgy merchandise…I might be able to get an alliance out of this if I'm lucky, apparently there's a princess out in the world hiding from her throne…'

'**Hiding from responsibility, tisk tisk, naughty naughty.'** Hitomi chided.

'Indeed. Anyway, time waits for no one, we best get Shinkou to drop a marker before Tsunade comes back.'

'**Agreed.**'

Scene break

The test was set and the participants seated at random, scattering the teams throughout the large room. Ibiki was passing out instructions.

"... the rules are simple, you each start with tem points, you will lose 2 points each time you try to cheat, anyone that loses all their points will be disqualified and their teammates automatically failed. [there are more rules but I can't remember them]. You will be given 45 minutes to answer the questions, after which I will personally administer the tenth and final question. You are not permitted to ask any questions, does anyone have any questions before we start?" The scarfaced interrogator asked. Several people raised their hands before being booted from the exam along with their teammates. Without further pause Ibiki started the test.

'Ok, who's going to fetch the answers?' Isaribi asked with her Seal.

'I'll get them from one of the chuunin hidden in the room, then we can have fun screwing with the minds of the poor saps in the room.' Hanabi answered. 'Rei would you cover me with an illusion so that the proctors can't see my eyes?'

'No problem. Oh am I going to have fun with this.' Rei mentally cackled as she wove an illusion over her teammate as she activated her Byakugan. The world bled out of all its colour till there was nothing but black, white and grey. Her sight range expanded all around her till nearly all the room was visible to her from her seat.

'Number 134 is going at their paper with gusto, they're one of the chuunin plants.' Isaribi reported, making Hanabi zero in her vision on the hidden chuunin. Hanabi dictated the answers to her comrades and in the short expanse of 15 minutes all nine Spirit ninja had a completed test paper.

'Now that the test is out of the way for now we can kill off the weaklings.' Kimimaro stated gaining affirmatives from everyone.

'KI bombs and other subtle tactics only, nothing else, we don't want to give away too much, just scare the shit out the good ones and failing the rest.' Gaara sent out. Sending back their affirmatives they began crippling their competition.

'But be careful not to leave us with too little toys to play with later, lets keep it around the 28 mark team wise, otherwise the others won't be any fun at all.'

Something was definitely up, Ibiki was sure of that; in the time he set before the tenth question more than half of the candidates for chuunin had been failed and he was looking at a small turnout for the second task.

'I'd like to say it was me but I don't think so, one of the hidden chuunin teams were failed and they weren't supposed to, they knew what was going on and they still passed out.' He noted. Glancing around the room Ibiki counted roughly 25 teams left from the 80 or so that started.

"I can't take this anymore!" a hysteric genin from Grass yelled before jumping from his seat and out the window next to him.

'And I was just about to call the tenth question too, what a shame.' Ibiki thought before calling out to the teammates of the window kid to leave. When they had vacated the room Ibiki called time.

"Pencils down! Times up! Time for the tenth question. Listen well, because there are rules that are specific to this question." He called out with his rough voice catching everyone's attention. Once he was sure he has everyoes attention he continued.

"Rule one, you may choose whether or not to take this question." He paused so the info sank into their minds.

"Hey wait a minute-" Kiba called out.

"SHUT UP and LISTEN and I might tell you the reason. As I was saying, you may choose to take the question, If you choose not to take it then you and your teammates are automatically disqualified."

"Then of course we'll take the damn question!" an indignant shout from a random gennin sounded.

"I SAID SHUT UP! If you take the question and get it wrong then you not only fail, but you will be barred from _ever _taking the exams again as will your teammates." Shouts erupted throughout the room of the unfairness of it all, how there were others that had taken the exam before and were still here.

"You're just unlucky I'm making the rules." Ibiki replied with a smile that sent shivers down a lot of spines. A few teams left after that but no one else budged, either it was out of fear bravery or pride Ibiki couldn't tell.

"You're quite sure? This decision will affect the rest of your life." He tried to goad them. Fū snorted, drawing the attention of the room to her.

"Regardless of our ranks amongst you people in the Elemental Nations, we could still kick all your asses. Do your worst scare face and get on with it, your taunts are boring me." Fū said with a yawn at the end for added effect. Seeing no one else move after Fū's little rant Ibiki's face became dark and ominous.

"Very well then, the only thing left for me to do it to inform you that… YOU PASS."

Scene Break

Shinkou finished the marker by the training field by the memorial stone and pulsed his chakra through it, activating the array. In an explosion of smoke similar to a summoning, Naruto and Tsunade appeared in the centre.

"Very good Shinkou, you've done well." Naruto praised.

"Thank you Lord Reikage." Shinkou bowed before regaining his normal posture.

"Time to face the music I suppose." Tsunade toned heavily, eyeing the memorial stone briefly, the images of her dead brother and lover flashing through her brain.

"Perhaps, but no one would dare move against you with me here, of that I am sure." Naruto said calmly whilst incinerating the seal that Shinkou had drawn up. "With that seal on your arm you are under my command, to move against you is to move against me and I have no intention of having my chief of medicine arrested." He righted himself and turned to the village.

"Let's go." Three forms vanished.

The assembled gennin stood outside a fenced off area with a pitched up tent, a gut chilling vibe emanating from the forest behind the fence.

"Alright maggots, this here is the area for your next exam," Anko said pointing to the fenced area. "Welcome to training area 44, the Forest of Death. You'll find you soon why it's called that." She said with a bloodthirsty grin making a few gennin shiver.

'Don't look now but we have a very powerful ninja disguised as a gennin, has a chakra level around that of the Hokage.' Hanabi said mentally to her comrades tilting her head to the side to miss a flying kunai, missing her cheek by a hairs width. An instant later Anko was behind her, or more accurately Hanabi as in her lap.

"You young ones are usually the first to die." Anko said next to her ear making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end at the feeling of condensation from the older woman's breath on her skin.

"Ms Anko I think you should move away before my dad finds out, he might take this the wrong way." Hanabi said steadily, not trying to sound like the woman was affecting her.

"Oh yeah Little Miss Tough Guy, and what could your dad possibly do to me?"

"If I remember correctly Anko, from our previous altercations you never scored a single, decent hit on me, you'll find that I can do a hell of a lot to you, with very little effort." Naruto said from right behind Anko making the purple haired woman jump in surprise, she hadn't even sensed him. The gennin too all jumped in fright, he'd just come out of nowhere. The chuunin proctors lost colour when they realised who was talking.

"What the fuck? What the hell are you doing here? HOW did you get here?" Anko demanded with a glare.

"Small details, I'll tell you later if I feel like it, right now I'm here to oversee a medical operation, you wouldn't mind holding off the start of this exam for 15 minutes would you? It was after all the time you were going to set for the teams to organise themselves." Naruto said with a grin.

"Ahm….sure I guess that's ok, as long as it doesn't interfere with the actual exam." Anko said with a sweat drop.

"Great, thank you." Naruto turned to an open area where no one was standing and pointed in its direction. In seconds a hut made of earth rose up from the ground.

"Kimimaro, go with the medical chief for your operation, this will not take too long, after you can go right back to your team for the exam." Naruto commanded. The bone user complied and moved to the earth hut, following Tsunade inside. Naruto retracted his hand back into his body, a slab of earth rising up from the ground to close up the hut completely.

"Anyway, you were explaining the particulars of this exam Anko, you best not get side-tracked, some people might not look upon you very favourably for it." Naruto said airily making Anko grind her teeth in irritation.

"I was getting there asshole," she seethed. "As I was saying before I got distracted by assholish Kage's, each of you has a consent form to sign to further participate in these exams, there are going to be deaths in this exam and the Leaf village doesn't want to be held accountable for when you die." She let her words hang for a moment before continuing.

"After handing in your waivers half of you will get an "Earth" scroll and the other half will get a "Heaven" scroll. There are no rules as for how you will obtain the scrolls, though to pass the exam you need both scrolls and all of your teammates alive and kicking. You have to get to the tower that's in the middle of the forest, about 10 kilometres from the gates. Now get signing!" she yelled.

15 minutes later the earth hut disintegrated, falling to the ground in a heap, revealing a sweating Tsunade and a panting Kimimaro. Those from the Leaf village that were assisting Anko gaped in astonishment when they recognised Tsunade dressed in a foreign ninja garb, a familiar seal displayed proudly on her shoulder.

"Alright then Kimimaro, your completely healed, you'll have no problems from now on as far as I can tell but do take it easy." Tsunade instructed. Kimimaro nodded his affirmation.

"Hai Lady Tsunade, thank you very much." He bowed his head before re-joining his team, who handed him a blank consent form, which he signed blindly. While this was happening the many teams were handing in their consent forms and being issued a scroll.

"Lord Reikage, I'm done here, I think I'll go find my old sensei and see what I can do about that other matter we talked about." The buxom blonde called before vanishing. About to follow the world renowned medic Naruto paused when he heard Hanabi's voice filter through his head.

'Dad there's a gennin there that's not a gennin.' Naruto acknowledged her statement mentally.

'Yes I know Hanabi, the gennin your talking about was killed by Orochimaru not too long ago and her face stolen to infiltrate these exams for some reason. You and your teammates as well as your other comrades are a possible target, he might be seeking revenge for the crippling I dealt him years ago so be careful... If anything ever happened to you I don't know what I'd do.' Naruto said, wrapping Hanabi into a quick hug.

"I'll be ok dad, I have three tailed ninja here with me as well as Temari, Kankuro, Rei, Isaribi and Kimimaro. With his disease cured he'll be in an even better position to both help and protect us. Besides, I can hold me own you know, you trained me after all." Hanabi said with a smile.

"Alright, ok…get out of here and make your mother and I proud." Naruto said with a smile, patting her on the bum before blowing away in smoke before she could retaliate.

Scowling at her father's action Hanabi re-joined her team just in time to hand in their forms and receive their scroll.

'You take it and layer it in illusions to hide it, then give Fish a fake.' Hanabi instructed Rei mentally as they left the tent and were taken to a gate.

'Good idea, we can meet up with the others inside and hunt down the rest of the competition.' Isaribi agreed.

Scene Break

Hushed whispers and stares were what Tsunade was receiving from those she passed on the streets towards the Hokage's office, and truth be told she was trying not to let it get to her but some of the things she was hearing here hitting some pretty sensitive areas. About to blow up at them Tsunade felt a light breeze blow past her and a weight pressed on her shoulder.

"We don't want to start a political incident from you wrecking a few buildings over a few words Tsunade, calm down or this talk will not go over very well." Naruto said placidly. He had opted to go without his black over cloak and instead wore his kage hat and robe, the black material fluttering in an invisible breeze. This sight of course gave those they passed a good look at his face and earned quite a few gasps.

"You should have kept the mask on, people are looking like they've seen a ghost." Tsunade grunted. Naruto just snorted.

"What they do is none of my business and mine none of theirs, they can believe whatever the hell they want as long as they don't cause any problems for us, we won't be here long enough for it to matter much anyway." Naruto said sternly before reaching the Hokage tower and making a beeline for Hiruzen's office. Opening the door Naruto and Tsunade were treated to the sight of the 3rd Hokage hunched over on his chair, a familiar orange book in one hand, the other not visible.

"You are a dirty old man Sarutobi." Deadpanned Naruto as he closed the door behind him. Tsunade's face was scrunched up with disgust at the sight of her former sensei fixing himself up from being caught during his 'private time'.

"When I thought of seeing you again sensei, I did not imagine it being like this…" Tsunade muttered while Naruto planted his finger tips to the floor of the office and chains of seals erupted from them wrapping themselves all throughout the office. In seconds the seals were in place and the walls pulsed a light blue indicating that the seals were set. Naruto righted himself and stood by Tsunade in front of the Hokage and his moderately sized pile of paperwork.

"I don't understand why exactly you have to do all of this crap, I myself never have to any more than 2 hour of this stuff ad its only about the serious stuff; this," he waved his hand at the white stacks. "Are just the signs of a lazy village and a Kage that's losing power within his own walls."

"It's quite a surprise to see you here Tsunade, I was under the impression that you were never coming back, nor would you bring with you who you did." Hiruzen noted, seemingly ignoring Naruto's comment.

"I wouldn't be here but I was needed for an operation which was completed successfully." Tsunade replied tightly. Sarutobi's eyes brightened a bit hearing that.

"So you've gotten over your hemophobia."

"Not quite, though Lord Reikage is helping me get through it." Tsunade admitted.

"It's not quite fun but I expected it to be difficult, they don't call them phobias for nothing." Naruto said airily. "But we're not here to discuss my Head of Medicine's irrational fear of blood, I'd not have needed the barrier otherwise. No, we are here to retrieve what rightfully belongs to me, scrolls or other important items left for me by my parents that are either willed or were confiscated when they died, and I know that you have them." Sarutobi paled slightly.

"I…I have no idea what you're talking about…" Hiruzen said nervously.

"Look you old monkey, you have something that belongs to me from my father," Naruto indicated the photo of the 4th Hokage on the wall. "And my mother, whoever she might be. I will get what I want from you, either you give it to me willingly or I take it from you by force. Now I'd rather not have to force this issue, you did help me survive within these walls during my childhood, I owe you for that but god help you if you deny me what I'm after."

"I can't give you what you want, you're not a ninja or resident of the Leaf Village." Sarutobi said solemnly. Tsunade levelled the white haired man with a glare, though Naruto was reeling over the words that he Third had spoken.

"You have to be shitting me Sensei! Give him his legacy, you and I both know it's rightfully his, it's his birth right!" She nearly screamed.

"I will not give away the secrets of the Fourth Hokage to an outsider, no matter who they may be." Hiruzen said resolutely, sounding a lot braver than he felt as he watched Naruto's solid form begin to smoke.

"I **will** have what I'm after Lord Hokage, one way or another **I will have what's mine**!" quick as lightning chains burst from Naruto's body, ensnaring the older man, rendering him immobile just as he began to move.

"ANBU!" Sarutobi called out instantly. There was no movement whatsoever, no Anbu bursting into the room as Hiruzen was secured to his seat. The Hokage's eyes snapped to Tsunade.

"This has gone on long enough, Tsunade! Free me at once!" He ordered. Tsunade shook her head with closed eyes.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Sarutobi Sensei. We had a feeling that you'd say something like this, so Naruto set up a time dilation barrier around your office, it cuts off this room from the normal flow of time, speeding up everything inside the barriers covered area while the outside remains unchanged, giving us all the time we need to get what we came for." Tsunade said moving towards her bound teacher, her hands emitting green chakra. "I am also one of Lord Reikage's most trusted ninja and his only remaining family left in the world, I follow his orders, not yours. And as a world renowned medic, I am adept in versions of torture that would make even Ibiki's skin crawl."

'We also have Shinkou outside to deflect anyone that comes near here too, even with the added time this might take a while, this barrier only slows time to 1/10 the normal speed.' Naruto added, though he reasoned that the Hokage didn't need to know that.

"This is treason Tsunade!" He bellowed. His eyes spied a seal on her arm as she removed his hat so that she had greater access to his cranium.

"Don't worry sensei, by the time this is all over, you'll not remember a thing." The blonde woman professed before her glowing palms touched the liver spotted man's temples and his eyes rolled back.

'I didn't want to do this Hiruzen but you forced my hand, I need and want that information and there's **nothing** you can do to stop me from getting it.' Naruto thought resolutely as he watched the glow of Tsunade's hands grow brighter.

* * *

AN: and that my friends, is chapter 16, I hope it meets your approval... if not well its not really my fault your standards are too high.

The chuunin exams are underway and Tsunade and Naruto are out for answers denied to them and Shinkou blows up the Uchiha complex, what will happen next?

Feedback is greatly appreciated, while I do not _need _reviews to motivate my writing (Kishimoto does that on his own with how shit the manga's gone, this is my way of venting) they are an important part in what prompts me to update faster, it also helps if you offer up suggestions for what you'd like to see happen, it provokes the thinking process which accelerates the writing pace, which leads to faster updates. So if you have any thoughts, queries or suggestions let me know and I'll see what I can do.

As usual, if you see any glaring errors please point them out and I will fix them.

* * *

Alright, here's the deal, since the Forest of Death is going to be the setting for a lot of action and I can't yet decide what'll happen, I'm giving you, the readers the chance to have an impact on the story. If there's something you want to see happen in the forest during the second part of the exam, suggest it and I'll do my best to make it happen. As long as it doesn't include killing any of the four main Leaf teams, they have to go through for later on.

If you do this, the next chapter will come by a lot quicker. At least, that is what I'm hoping.

That is all.


	17. If you go into the woods tonight

AN: I'm Back with another one, hope you like it. A quick thank you to my Beta, thank you for your time looking this over for me.

* * *

Almost immediately after the gates of the forest were opened three teams were instantly on the hunt.

'Remember everyone; eliminate everyone that is of no consequence.' Fū ordered through the seal network. 'There are a few teams here that we will be attacking exclusively however, we are expecting a high ranking ninja to infiltrate the exam at some point, if you see or sense him at all tell us and we'll come to you.'

'It's the one that reeks of snakes isn't it?' Kankuro asked for clarification.

'That's right, that's Orochimaru of the Legendary Three Ninja from what Lord Reikage told Hanabi a few minutes ago. Everyone is to split up and kill as many teams off as possible, exclude the four rookie Leaf teams though, Lord Reikage has something planned for them so they have to make it through; everyone else is free.' Fū finished.

"Ok Sand Man, do your thing." Yugito said to Gaara, who let off a quick Giant Wind Bullet that uprooted dozens of trees in a direction that an enemy team was located. The snapping of trees and the flying of dirt was heard for about 10 seconds before there was a painful cry as the targeted team became buried in the debris.

"Let's play a game of 'how many people we can kill with a single Menacing Ball'." Piped up Fū, who was already preparing one to be fired in the opposite direction that Gaara launched his Wind Bullet.

"You're on! Loser has to buy for Lady Tsunade's next drinking binge." Yugito agreed, this would be fun.

Hanabi had her Byakugan activated moments into the exam and was privy to the show of destruction that Gaara had created. Her eyes widened a few fractions when her eyes caught the build-up of chakra used in an Imari.

"Brace yourselves!" she yelled just as the attack shot from Fū and detonated seconds later. The ground around them quaked roughly under the explosion of power, enough to unsettle a team of would be ambushing Rain ninja that were moments away from attacking Hanabi and her team.

"You know, I somehow knew that they were going to use Imari in the forest, don't tell me how I knew but I did." Isaribi noted idly turning to face the team that had been shaken out of hiding from the tremor. "Hey, you three, what scroll do you have, we need a heaven scroll." She asked curiously.

"Are you some kind of retarded freak?" The Rain ninja in question said through their breathing apparatus'. "We'll kill you for what your fucking leader did to our village then take your scroll so it doesn't- what the fuck?" the lead Rain nin asked as corpse like hands broke through the dirt grabbing hold of the three of them, pulling them under the dirt like quicksand until only their heads were visible.

"No one says that about my dad and gets away with it." Spat Hanabi as she formed a surgical knife in her hand and knelt down by one of the heads buried in the ground. "I'll ask again, which scroll do you have, you better answer unless you want to lose an eye. One refusal will lose you and eye, a second refusal will lose your other one, the third time I'll neuter you. You have three seconds. One." She said lining up her knife at an eyeball she continued her count. "Two." Millimetres away from the iris of the rain nin's eye the nin was about to insult her when the blade was inserted into his eye causing an unholy scream to echo from the breathing mask and out into the woods. Ten after a few seconds Hanabi removed the knife from the eye and the Rain nin blinked in confusion, hadn't he just been stabbed in the eye a second ago? Then how the hell was he still seeing out of it.

"I'm an aspiring medic you know, so I can stab you wherever I want, how many times I wish with my special weapon here, and I can heal the damage like you were never stabbed in the first place. Now I'll stop if you tell me what I want to know, otherwise…" Hanabi trailed off as she stabbed the Rain nin in the other eye electing another howl of pain from Hanabi's patient. Isaribi meanwhile took to squatting by one of the other two heads that were buried up to their necks in the dirt and knocked on his crown like a doorknocker.

"Hey you, what's with the breathing masks?" she asked curiously, forming a dense puddle of water from her chakra above his head. "You know I wonder if they act as breathing devices underwater, be my test dummy?" she asked before drowning his head in her water bubble. After having submerged the guys' head in water for 2 minutes and hearing several more screams of bloody murder from Hanabi's victim, Isaribi increased the water pressure in the bubble, the guys breathing mask breaking under the pressure. Isaribi lifted her water bubble from the guys' head to hear him gasping madly for air.

"So that thing does let you breathe underwater. You know I can do that too?" Isaribi chirped, her head morphing to show I scaled fin sticking up on her head, the Rain ninja's eyes widening on horror prompting Isaribi to change back. "Cool huh? So you want to tell me if you have your scroll or not, I'll eat you in my transformed state if you refuse. She warned. The Rain ninja eyed her quickly and after hearing yet another tortured scream from his teammate was quick to tell his captors what they wanted. Immediately after revealing who's possession the scroll was in the Rain ninja saw the world around him swirl heavily making him blink heavily at the disorienting visual. When he opened his eyes he found him and his teammates standing on top of the ground and not buried. Looking at his two teammates and seeing that their equipment was scattered in the middle of their position he Rain nin spied a red message etched into the ground.

"If you want to live don't leave the clearing, the whole areas rigged to explode if you try to leave. Thanks for the scroll." He read. Looking off to the side he took note of a seal drawn onto the ground, determining it as a perimeter explosive seal.

"Fuck."

"So what scroll did we get from those idiots?" Hanabi asked as they continued on their way through the forest, completely ignoring a loud boom from behind them. Rei who had gotten the scroll and layered the scroll in illusions to hide it, rolled her sclera-less eyes.

"We have two Earth scrolls now." She answered.

"Well that's just one more team out of the exam then, let's go find some more victims." Isaribi noted with a shrug as they continued their search.

Orochimaru was mildly disappointed after his initial fight with Sasuke to test the boy's skills, he'd thought that the boy would have been much stronger than what he'd shown.

'He pulled off the dragon flame jutsu but beyond that he's far from what I expected.' He thought still bound to the tree. 'Still he did pull of that attack with the Sharingan so he's not a total loss.' Deciding that he'd had enough time playing around Orochimaru snapped the wires binding him and performed a hand sign to direct killing intent at the two conscious gennin. They immediately seized up.

"What? Impossible!" he managed to sputter through his clenched jaws.

"Such mastery of the Sharingan at so young an age, you're a true Uchiha after all. Yes, you'll do nicely." The snake nin said, his voice changing to his original tone. Time to butter him up. "Your definitely his brother, if anything your eyes are even keener than Itachi's." he said oily taking the scroll in his possession and holding it up in his palm for them to see before burning it.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sasuke managed to shout.

"My name is Orochimaru. But as to what I want….that will have to wait till we meet again, which won't happen till you finish this test with the best score of all. First you'll have to defeat the Hidden Sound ninja that serve me."

"I have no idea what you're talking about but if you're finished then why don't you just beat it! If we ever meet again it'll be too soon." Sakura managed to yell, though her body was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Oh, he and I will meet again." The snake nin said shortly forming a hand sign and extending his neck, his head shooting forward and biting Sasuke in the spot between his neck and shoulder. Sasuke shrieked in pain as Orochimaru injected his chakra through his teeth and into the flesh of the last Uchiha on the Leaf village. Just as quickly Orochimaru retracted his neck, a creepy grin on his face.

"You! What have you done to Sasuke?" Sakura demanded.

"I just gave him a little parting gift. Very soon Sasuke will seek me out, he'll desire my power. In the meantime I enjoyed the demonstration of the powers you already possess." He answered, his body vanishing into the tree branch he was standing on. His eyes widened and he lost his grin when the branch he was sinking into was just about turned into toothpicks by an arrow of light that impacted where his head was going to be.

"And in doing so will enable Lord Reikage's plans to progress further, without your actions just now it would be near impossible to carry them out without descending into war." Fū said with a grin as Gaara shouldered his bow, Yugito right beside him. Orochimaru frowned in annoyance.

"You brats are beginning to annoy me."

'Shit! These are _his_ underlings! I can't effort to get into a fight with them here, with him here in the village I'll surely perish if I don't get out of here right now.'

"Don't worry too much Paedophile-Snake-man, we just want to deliver a message from our leader to you." Fū said clearing her throat. "If you go through with this invasion you'll die, no questions asked."

"Your Reikage will get what's coming to him, mark my words." The snake sannin vowed before blurring out of sight. Gaara turned to the writhing Sasuke and scowled.

"All this fuss over this piece of chicken shit?" he said incredulously. Sakura immediately jumped to her Uchiha teammate's defence.

"You take that back! Sasuke is the strongest gennin in the exams!" she shouted/howled making the three tailed ninjas ears ring at the high pitch.

"Yeah, ok you howler monkey, that's why an_ S class_ missing ninja from _your_ _own_ village fled from us without even so much as throwing a single punch." Gaara retorted sarcastically. "And even if that were true, that prick unconscious in front of you went all out against that snake fag and barely scratched him. We have orders to let your team pass though, so you can have one of the scrolls that we…acquired earlier." Gaara said throwing a duplicate of the scroll that Orochimaru burnt up not too long ago. Sakura looked at the three spirit ninja in horror as the scroll Gaara threw landed in her hands, wet bloodstains coated the object, marring the pink haired girl's clean, smooth palms.

"Enjoy the peace while you can pinky, very soon shit's gonna hit the fan, and not in a good way." Fū said snidely before her team vanished, leaving Sakura alone in the forest.

Kabuto was rushing through the trees, the only survivor of his team, his two teammates having been eaten by some massive insect like creature.

'There's nothing like that in the Forest of Death.' The traitorous medic thought quickly as he continued to run. "That can mean only one of two things; That was either a rare summon, or it was one of those puppets used by that guy from the Spirit villa-Shit!' Kabuto slammed on the breaks just in time to save himself being pieced through by long white spines protruding from the branch in front of him.

"Where the hell'd that come from?" the grey haired medic asked in wonder before jumping off his current perch which erupted in white storks of sharp white blades. The vicious rustling of leaves in the distance was the only warning he had before a blast of wind slammed into him, sending him flying through the air at a thick tree branch behind him some 50 feet away. The only warning of what was about to happen to him registered to him 5 feet away from the tree branch as the spectacled ninja saw white pinpricks in the bark.

'Fuck!' he swore internally as his body was impaled right through the chest and stomach to the back. Kimimaro sprouted from the tree limb like a blooming flower, observing the punctured purple clad young man in front of him. A slight breeze behind him told him of Temari's arrival behind him.

"Where's your brother at?" the white haired man asked his blonde ponytailed teammate.

"He's still back with the other two, apparently one of them had a chakra stealing ability that somewhat negated his puppets abilities, so it naturally took longer," Temari touched her seal that glowed upon touching and died out seconds later after she removed it. "He'll be a while, he said his puppets will take a few minutes to completely assimilate their chakra into his puppet and even longer to digest them, he sends his apologies for being late to the party. So what should we do with him?" she asked.

"Well I'm not sure exactly, ultimately we have to kill him but that might prove to be difficult, even with such grievous wounds as these he's still alive playing possum until he's released. I almost want to seal him away so that Lady Tsunade can dissect him and learn about this regenerative trait of his; it's almost on par with those of the Tailed ninja and he doesn't even have one of the great nine beasts inside of him, orders are orders though so his corpse will have to do. Because any physical damage is annoyingly healing itself, apart from where he's pierced and bound, you'll have to suffocate him." Kimimaro deduced. Kabuto's eyes snapped open after hearing this, his hands pulsing with chakra as he tried to cut himself free on his pinned position. His eyes widened a fraction when his first attempt, which should have cut clean through, only made a small dent.

"You'll find that cutting through that will be neigh impossible, you best accept your fate now and save yourself the agony." Kimimaro offered lamely as Temari began to set up an air bubble around Kabuto that cut off all outside sources of oxygen. Two white spines shot out of the tree to stab through Kabuto's hands, dispelling the Chakra Scalpels almost immediately.

"We can't have you escaping now can we? That would make all of the work we did in killing you all worthless." Temari gave her teammate a nod. "And now you'll kill yourself trying to dislodge yourself from my bones, your wounds around the punctures may have healed somewhat but without actually removing my bones from your body you're stuck there until I release my hold on you." Symptoms of asphyxia were beginning to set in while Kimimaro was giving his last words as Kabuto was beginning to feel lightheaded as the oxygen levels in his blood continued to decline. He started gasping not too long after that, and not 5 minutes later he fell completely still, just as Kankuro arrived.

"He's finally dying…about time too, that air tight bubble is a pain in the ass to keep up." Temari informed the two males with her. "We should wait a few more minutes just to be safe, then we can feed his body to one of your Chakra Puppets." A few tense moments later and Temari decompressed the air tight bubble.

"Wait, before we do anything I need to check something, if this guy's really dead then nothing will happen if I do this." Kimimaro said quickly, holding his palm out in front of Kabuto's eyes. With a quick squelch Kimimaro shot a bone spike from his hand into the brain via the eye socket. Temari and Kankuro grimaced as they heard the sounds of Kimimaro roughly removing the bone spikes from Kabuto's head, brain matter running down the now dead grey medics face. Kimimaro spared the deceased one final look before nodding to Kankuro, who created a Chakra Puppet and set it to digest the corpse left behind. After that was done 10 minutes later they left the area, leaving behind a queasy Team Ten who had stumbled in on what Kimimaro's team was doing just as Kankuro set his puppet to eat Kabuto's corpse.

"I've lost my appetite." A green faced Chouji said before emptying the contents of his stomach, followed shortly thereafter by Ino, who's eyes were glazed over in total horror.

An exhausted Sakura sat by an unconscious Sasuke after having dragged her crush from where he fell unconscious to a more safer location, at the base of a hollow tree with a few hastily made traps created for security.

"I find it amazing that such a weakling has everybody in such a fuss, I mean with his bloodline he's a bit of a handful but without it he's a chump." Rei said, startling Sakura sharply when she realized that the words she just heard came from within the hollowed out tree. The weary Leaf kunoichi, having been awake for 24+ hours, relying completely on adrenaline to keep her alert, sprang to her teammate's side in a defensive stance with a kunai in a reverse grip.

"Who are you?" she shrieked. "What do you want with us?" she demanded.

"We don't want anything from you, screecher, or your team. We're here for them." Isaribi answered pointing up into the canopy of trees where the three Sound gennin appeared.

"My dad said to kill these three, so that's what we're going to do. Afterwards we'll give you a scroll, you won't find a team to steal a scroll from, as most of them have been killed already." Hanabi explained.

'Th-these guys are unreal, they killed over half the teams in the forest.' The pinkette gulped seeing the serious look on Hanabi's face. 'And to think she's only 7 or 8 years old.'

"You might not want to watch this, Isaribi can get quite messy with her fights." Rei said nodding at the fish girl.

"You think that you can take all three of us on?" Zaku asked Isaribi with a cackle.

"Yep, I won the game of rock-paper-scissors so I get to kill you." Isaribi said with a grin. Sakura's eyes went wide.

"What are you doing? You'll be killed!" she screeched.

"Quiet screecher, you'll see in a moment how much of a gap there is between your village and ours." Rei cut her off sharply.

"We have no issue with you, our business is with the Uchiha, stand aside and you'll yet live." Dosu said calmly. Isaribi just adopted a large smirk as the air around her immediate area began to get heavy, Isaribi saturating the air around her with her potent water element chakra.

"Just like your snake pedophile of a leader, you have no idea who you're dealing with, I'll be glad to give you a demonstration of my power."

"Enough of your crowing, freak! Take this, Decapitating Sound Waves!" Zaku shouted as he thrust his palms forward. The invisible force of Zaku's attack was shrouded with the thick watery atmosphere around Isaribi. Isaribi grinned when she felt the pressurized air headed for her and used her chakra in the air to break the attack into smaller streams at its head, dispersing the attack with as little affect as rustling the leaves and dirt on the ground.

"What? How's that possible?" Zaku asked in outrage.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Slicing Water Dragon!" in nanoseconds there was a torrent of water shooting at the three sound gennin, a wicked looking aqua water dragon flying in their direction with its claws in a slashing motion. The three sound gennin split just in time to see the tree they were on sliced into pieces.

'Water Dragon Detonation.' Isaribi commanded as the dragon exploded, showering her three opponents in water.

"It's all over now." Rei said simply. With Isaribi's high concentrate chakra water soaking them they were as good as dead.

"There's no hope for you now, aquatic red storm!" with their bodies soaked with her special water Isaribi turned the aquatic liquid from simple water into a corrosive acid that started to melt right through their bodies while they were in mid-air. Needless to say gravity pulled down red like sludge piles that splattered messily on the ground, Rei and Hanabi being agile enough to avoid getting covered in it but Sakura got splashed over the front of her dress, her eyes wide in shock at what she's just seen.

'She just killed them, all three of them so effortlessly! What on god's green earth are these people?'

"See? Quick and easy." Isaribi turned to address Team Gai on a high branch who were watching the proceedings. "I hope you three got a good look, especially you with the fancy eyes." Team Gai stilled at the address.

"You can come down, we aren't going to kill you." Hanabi said placidly as she dusted her shoulder of some imaginary dust. Team Gai landed on the ground in front of Isaribi into defensive stances, they were not going to take any chances with these three.

"Who are you?" Neji asked curiously.

"We're one of three teams from the Hidden Spirit village, that's Rei and Isaribi. And I'm Hanabi Namikaze, the daughter of the Reikage of the Hidden Spirit village." Hanabi said indicating to each of her teammates and then herself.

"Yosh! I am Rock Lee and these are my teammates Neji and Tenten." Crowed Lee.

"I find it interesting that you say you're the daughter of the leader of the new village Hidden Spirit, when you bear the surname of our 4th Hokage and when you look like a Hyuuga." Neji commented suspiciously.

"Your Fourth Hokage is the father of my father so I feel I have the right to use my grandfather's name; as to my looks…it's none of your business."

"What? What do you mean it's none of my business? You're a Hyuuga with allegiances to another village, how can that not be my business?" Neji seethed. He's had the notion of protecting the Hyuuga Kekkei Genkai beaten into his head so thoroughly he couldn't help himself.

"I share your bloodline but that is all I share, besides the only thing you can do is kidnap me from my home, friends and family…if you do that though my dad will raze this village to the ground in retribution, as your village council very well knows." Hanabi let out a sigh.

'She's not bound to the Leaf village or any part of the Hyuuga clan, maybe she can help me out of this hell the Hyuuga elders have let Hinata put me in.' Neji thought as he watched Hanabi turn to face the now twitching Sasuke.

"We're done here, let's go." Hanabi called to her teammates. Just as they were prepped to jump away however Sasuke chose this time to wake up, dark chakra swirling around his body as tainted chakra from the Curse Mark flooded his system.

"That's interesting…" Rei said in fascination as she observed the 'fucked up hickey' on Sasuke's neck spread. Sasuke's eyes surveyed the area around him, eyeing the blood splatter on Sakura's dress.

"Sakura…who did that to you?" he asked darkly. Sakura quickly shifted his eyes to Isaribi, which the loner Uchiha detected almost instantly. He turned a deranged gaze on the fish girl.

"Hey what do you know, sleeping beauty's awake. Did you enjoy your nap?" Isaribi quipped.

"What I want to know," Hanabi cut in. "Is why you have that screwed up hickey spreading over you?"

"It's given me power, power enough to kill you!" Before Sasuke could even take a step though, as he was ranting, Rei was crafting an illusion and as he shot forward to slam his closed fist into Hanabi's smaller frame. Sasuke suddenly found his arms immobile, a pair of arms hooking under his armpits.

"Foolish little brother, you're a disgrace, a total disappointment." The voice of Itachi said right next to Sasuke's ear, making him go wide eyed and completely still. In a blurred motion Rei appeared on Sasuke's side and slapped her palms on his shoulder where the Curse Mark was.

'Sealing skill: Repression.' The black flame marks on Sasuke's skin glowed red as the markings retreated back into their three comma form, Sasuke losing consciousness seconds later.

"What the hell was that?" Tenten asked in bewilderment.

"Rei has a talent for corporeal images, great for screwing with the minds of her opponents." Isaribi said with a smile. The rustling of trees alerted those in the area of approaching ninja, the Leaf teams, bar Sasuke, got into combat ready stances. The other two Spirit teams broke through the trees and landed in little ways away from the others in the clearing.

"It's ok, they're with us." Isaribi said calmly to the battle ready Leaf ninja.

"How'd it go?" Temari asked Hanabi, who turned to the red sludge piles on the ground.

"Isaribi did it, they're the red sludge piles of the ground, what about you? You kill yours?" the young girl asked.

"Ours was a bit tricky but yeah, they're dead. We don't even have to ask how you guys did do we?" Temari asked the tailed team.

"We came across Pedo snake man when he gave duck ass that weird hickey but otherwise killed off the rest of the teams, the only ones left in the exam are just outside the clearing, one crouching with the shrubbery and the other hiding behind the large tree 50 yards to the left, neither has a passable scroll set, the rest are here." Gaara answered his sister.

"Dump the scrolls on the ground and lets go." Fū said before turning on her heel and blurring out of sight towards the tower. Gaara and Yugito emptied their supply bags, where they stashed the scrolls, and raced after their teammate. Seeing as the other two Spirit teams were already in possession of the required scrolls they left for the tower too, leaving four Leaf teams to stare at the pile of scrolls in the middle of the clearing.

'Yep, I'm definitely going to bank with them; that Rei girl seemed to be able to supress that fucked up hickey on the Uchiha idiots neck, maybe she could do a similar thing with the Caged Bird Seal..' Neji thought as he looted the necessary scroll for his team before he and his team left the area, the other teams doing the same afterwards.

Tsunade released her old sensei's head as she released her hold on the physiological technique she used to rife through the old man's mind.

"It's done."

"Good, because we were running out of time. Please tell me it isn't a scroll with his last moments, I don't want a scroll with a final goodbye with a list of secret techniques on it." Naruto said with dread.

"As far as the Hokage knows, it is a scroll, but he doesn't know what's in it. Because of how valuable a scroll he's treating is he hasn't hidden it in a location where others are going to be able to get it, he sealed it on his own body where he knew he could keep it safe. It's a blood seal above his heart." Tsunade told him. Naruto eyed the dazed white haired man.

"It's a shame that we had to be enemies Hiruzen Sarutobi, I could have helped you out with the coming storm." The young Kage said before taking his palm and phasing it through the Hokage's robes and undelayed armour to rest upon the seal above his chest where his heart was. Naruto nicked the skin collecting a small portion of the man's blood before smearing it on the seal, after that was done Naruto went about breaking the seal apart. After about three minutes of careful work there was an audible pop of displaced air as the seal broke, the contents appearing in Naruto's misted appendage where it disappeared instantly into Naruto's body. Naruto withdrew his hand from the Hokage's chest before calling the scroll from within him to his hand and analysing it.

"This is a very intricate blood seal, the best I've ever seen," he told Tsunade. "It seems to be keyed to the blood of immediate family, in this case, me."

"Then how will you open it? Last time I checked you don't exactly have blood because you don't have a real, corporeal body." Tsunade asked incredulously.

"I do have a small store of blood in stasis within me from before I ascended from my physical form years ago but it is a very minuscule amount." Naruto placed the scroll within himself again, the scroll vanishing into the depths of his mind. "I'll worry about this at a later date though, there are more immediate matters to attend to, as do you if I remember correctly. You're dismissed to see to those matters, whatever they may be, I'll see you later." Naruto said before disabling the Time Space barrier and opening the door to face Shinkou who was still guarding the door. Tsunade didn't waste any time and vanished immediately afterwards leaving Naruto by himself.

"All done Lord Reikage?" he asked when Naruto opened the door.

"Just about, you didn't have any troubles, I trust?"

"No Lord Reikage, no trouble at all." Shinkou answered dutifully.

"Very good. Now, you'll have to wipe the memory of the last half an hour or so from the Hokage's mind, then you and I are headed to the Forest of Death for an intervention between an old master and apprentice." Naruto instructed. The colour of the Sharingan flashed in Shinkou's eyes for a brief moment before nodding and stepped into the office of his old boss, Naruto closing the door behind him.

The three Spirit teams entered the entrance hall of the tower at the centre of the forest and deduced from the message on the wall that the scrolls were to be opened. Opening them and throwing them to the ground when they began to smoke all nine ninja present when Iruka Umino appeared before then, a very worried look on his face.

"You're the only teams that have made it through the exam so far after so long." He said with dread having sighted two additional sets of scrolls with the other 2 teams.

"Don't worry too much over the greenhorn ninja from your village, they're on their way here, about 5 minutes behind us roughly, so you can stay here and wait for them for when they arrive." Kimimaro addressed the chuunin, identifying the reason for his nervousness as the man's eyes were flickering from them to the entrances of the tower.

"We passed this portion of the exam correct, then we are free to do what we please until the time limit is exceeded, right?" Temari asked the scarred chuunin.

"That's right, you can relax around the tower till the end of the fifth day. Your sensei's are around the tower too, somewhere…" the academy teacher said turning to the nine of them only to see that they had vanished. The man sighed at how the exams had gone so far.

'I hope my graduate class did ok in the forest.' He thought absently as he stood in the middle of the room by himself.

Naruto and Shinkou vaulted over the chain fence around the Forest of Death, shooting through the trees like twin rockets, Naruto flying/gliding and Shinkou tree vaulting.

"So why exactly are we doing this?" Shinkou asked curiously.

"There is a possibility that the apprentice, Anko Miterashi, might be swayed to join us and defect from the village if we can play this right, she has skills that I value highly as well as a Seal that I'd like to study, a seal that will nearly incapacitate her in a fight with her former master. Predicably Anko wants revenge on the homo snake man, its why she's in here in the first place, and I am willing to provide her with the means to do it, I'll neutralize her seal the best I can while you deal with Orochimaru, give her a visual demonstration of what one can learn from my teachings, should she accept she might even be able to subvert control of the snake clan from Orochimaru if she's lucky enough, giving her added incentive to take what I'm going to offer her. If not I'll try turn her into a sleeper agent, I don't like doing it but it might be necessary for later." Naruto explained.

"You also need to get laid and this is as great an opportunity to help get into her skirt." Naruto said laughing long and hard when Shinkou lost his footing on a branch as Naruto said that.

"Come out of there!" Anko yelled as she pulled on the snakes she'd sent to the tree Orochimaru was submerged in, throwing him into the opposite tree behind her. Retracting the snakes back to her sleeve and forming a hand sign Anko launched herself at her former sensei and slammed a kunai through both hers and Orochimaru's hands.

"Gotchya! Now, let me just borrow your left hand." Anko said through gritted teeth as she used his and hers to form a unique hand seal.

"That hand sign!" Orochimaru said in recognition.

"Right, it's over, you and I are going to die here." Anko declared calling the ninjutsu, Twin Snake Sacrifice Jutsu mentally. There was a moment's pause before Orochimaru's laugh echoed through the area, Anko's eyes widening in shock.

"I'm afraid you are going to die alone Anko." Anko turned her neck to face her former teacher, who tore off the rest of his grass ninja disguise from his face. "That's right, Substitution." Anko looked to the Orochimaru she had pinned to the tree only to see it fall apart into a slosh of mud. Gasping in shock Anko was completely still as her mind came to terms with what she'd just tried to do.

"Of course, your one of the elite now, a righteous warrior, how naughty of you to use a forbidden jutsu I taught you." Wrenching the kunai she stabbed herself with Anko threw it at the snake nin, who caught it with two fingers.

"It won't work Anko." He said oily before forming a hand sign with his other hand making Anko seize up and drop her other kunai she'd been holding.

"Why are you here?" she asked as Orochimaru stopped in front of her frozen form.

"I'm disappointed, I expected a friendlier reception after all this time."

"Don't tell me you're here to assassinate Lord Hokage." Anko said panting as the Cursed Seal on her shoulder began to act up even more to her former teacher's presence.

"No not yet, I don't have enough followers to attempt that yet, but I've heard such good things about this village I thought I'd make it mine." By this time the pain from the Mark had grown so strong Anko dropped to her knees clutching the three tomoe pattern on her shoulder.

"It's the mark isn't it? I put the same mark on a young man just a little while ago, he's a very promising prospect."

"You haven't changed I see, he'll die before he serves you."

"Very possible, I'd say the odds are 1 in 10 against him, the kid may survive…as you did."

"Sounds like you want him badly." Anko said smugly before shuddering as Orochimaru cupped her cheek.

"Awe, jealous is that it? You can't forgive me for using you and tossing you aside. In some ways the boy has more potential than even you have, you see he's inherited the sublime abilities of the Uchiha clan , and his physical condition is near perfect. Yes he may very well be the heir I'm looking for, at the very least he makes things interesting. Make sure whatever happens that no one cancels the exams early, three of my followers are also candidates. I look forward to seeing how they fair." He said retreating from Anko's crouched form.

"They fared pretty poorly, they're all dead, have been for a while now as a matter of fact." Naruto said appearing on the scene making Orochimaru pause. He turned to greet the newcomer when another joined him.

"I do believe that this was a private party and neither of you were invited," Orochimaru stated as he eyed the two of them. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the blondes face.

"It can't be, you're supposed to be dead!" he exclaimed. "You died 12 year ago!" Naruto who was kneeling by a trembling Anko and analysing her chakra and the seal that was affecting her paid him no mind.

"Lord Reikage does get mistaken for his father a great deal but the Fourth Hokage of the Leaf village_ is_ dead, Lord Reikage is his son." Shinkou answered drawing the snake inn's attention.

"Ah the self-styled Reikage of the upstart Spirit Village, what do I owe this honour?" Orochimaru asked mockingly, filing away the appearance of the heir of the Fourth Hokage away for later.

"Lord Reikage was interested in that seal you placed on Miss Anko, he wanted to analyse it when it's in close proximity with the creator. As for me, I want to kill you for doing that to her in the first place." Shinkou said seriously, dropping into a ready stance.

"And why would you be so inclined to face me over something like that?" the sound of metal cutting through flesh was heard an instant later as the long blade of a sword stuck out from Orochimaru's back.

"Because I owe it to her as an old friend." Shinkou said quietly next to the S class ninja's ear as he turned into a puddle of mud, sprouting from the branch of the tree they were standing on, rubbing his stomach where Shinkou had stabbed him.

'Something tells me a substitution won't work again against him, not like it did against Anko, I can still feel the blade's wound in my gut.' The snake nin thought as he readied himself for battle, with the Reikage here, fleeing was a moot point, even if he was otherwise occupied.

"What are you… doing here?" Anko managed to ask through her labored breathing.

"I'm analysing this seal to see how I can remove it, when the creator is nearby the seal is more active, this way I can analyse it better so you'll have to bear with the pain." Naruto answered her before turning to Shinkou. "Keep him nearby but not too close, this may take a while."

"No problem Lord Reikage, this will be easy, his ninjutsu won't work on me so this'll be fun." Shinkou answered.

"That…guy has no idea…who he's about…to fight." Anko managed to grunt out earning a chuckle from Naruto.

"You needn't worry about Shinkou, he can beat Itachi Uchiha going all out, and I know that Orochimaru can't beat Itachi on a good day, he'll be fine." Naruto said, never once breaking his gaze from Anko's curse seal of heaven.

'Shit, this guy can beat Itachi, this will be far more trickier than I thought.' Orochimaru thought as he faced his opponent, the foreign feeling of dread creeping in on him.

* * *

AN: Short I know but I couldn't make it any longer, believe me I tried.

So...

Naruto has his inheritance, what is it and who's it from?

Neji sees a chance to free himself from his cage, will he take it? Will he extend this chance to the others that share his fate?

Will Shinkou get lucky with Anko at all?

Who will fight who in the preliminaries?

What the hell's going to happen next?

Feedback is much appreciated, it helps me with writing the follow up chapters.

* * *

AN2: Anyone that want to help write a fight scene or two for the Prelims are more than welcome to say so, these fight are causing all kinds of hell for me. The Prelims for the series can't work with how things are because of how many different people there are in it compared to cannon.

If you want to help, give me a shout.

* * *

R&R


	18. Ready, Fight!

AN: Greetings from a galaxy far far away, where I have been for the last while, hence why this has taken so long to post. This chapter, I confess, I am NOT happy with, at all, HOWEVER, it had to be posted to continue the story.

A lot of you will not be happy about, either the lateness of the chapter, or its content. My reason for both of these are related, my muse for this story is drying up. Not to say that I am going to discontinue it, far from it, but updates will be few and far in between unless my muse is refreshed. If you're as smart as you think you are, then yes, it means I need feedback from you, the reader.

Also, this chapter has gone without a beta check, I coudn't get in touch with mine, so if you see any errors, please skip over it. :-P

But enough of my ramblings, read what I've given you and be happy!

* * *

After having to endure the rambling speech of a chronically coughing jōnin, who explained the outline of the rest of the exam, a one on one contest to thin the numbers significantly for a Third stage of the exam with the same setup; the electronic board behind him began to cycle through names till two were chosen.

"Gaara from Spirit and Tenten of the Leaf remain, the rest of you please leave to the observation platforms on the sides." Hayate instructed which they all did without complaint. When the area was clear Hayate began the fight, jumping away out of the area as Tenten darted backwards to give herself room, Gaara just stood his ground watching her retrieve shuriken in one hand from her weapons pouches at her hip.

'Her body type suggests that she's not a front line fighter, so she's not taijutsu orientated like her teammate in the leotard, nor is she ninjutsu aligned with the chakra level she has, she's either a genjutsu type or a weapons expert. Judging by the scrolls she's holding I'm going with weapons…it's a shame she's up against me, with my body in its sand state those won't do much of anything against me.' Gaara thought dismally.

"If you're going to predominantly be using weapons in this fight I might as well use mine, it's only fair." Gaara told her creating his Wind Bow and twirling it around in his hands a moment before prepping it.

'He's using a long ranged weapon against Tenten? This might just get interesting…' Neji thought from the sidelines as Tenten threw a series of shuriken at Gaara, that ripped right through him and fell to the sound with a dull thud. Tenten's eyes widened in shock.

'I hit him with those! I know I did, why isn't he bleeding at all? He didn't even move!' she thought quickly before measuring her paces for her next attack, pushing those thoughts out of her head.

"You had your shot, now it's my turn." Quick as lightning Gaara fired two arrows from his bow making 2 meter long dents in the wall behind her, Tenten's eyes widening in shock at their speed and power. The feeling of her hair falling to her shoulders out of their buns jolted Tenten from her shock, her hands moving to her hair watching Gaara's face split into a smirk.

"You don't look too bad with your hair down, you know?" Gaara said impishly. Tenten became livid hearing this, jumping into the air with a scroll in hand. Unfurling it she began to unseal the weapons stored in them and threw them at Gaara one after the other till there wasn't any more to throw. Touching down Tenten eyed her opponent to see how her attack fared. Her eyes widened when she saw all her weapons imbedded into Gaara's body, his entire front a forest of forged steel.

'That doesn't look right.' She thought with unease.

"It's a shame you had me as an opponent, it was truly a mismatch, you cannot defeat me with weapons alone." Gaara said as he pushed the blades of the various weapons out of his body with his sand, the forged steel all cluttering to the ground, hi body completely unmarred.

"Don't count me out of this just yet!" Tenten shouted before standing two scrolls on the ground on either side of her, making a few hand signs and jumping up into the air at the scrolls unfurled in a similar fashion like the first time, though they were dressed up with dragon images this time. Like last time deadly steel rained down on Gaara, but unwilling to become a pincushion again Gaara propped his bow and fired off a series of arrows into the approaching metal, that, upon contact blew up with a burst of wind, scattering them all over the arena.

"It's not over yet!" Tenten shouted, chakra strings attaching themselves to all her scattered weapons before they launched from the ground and right towards Gaara. Tenten watched in fascination as her weapons closed in around Gaara before literally ripping through him, his body falling into chunks on the ground.

Sakura and Ino screamed at the display, the sight more than their young eyes could take. Sai was emotionless like always, Sasuke who had woken up not long ago had a smirk in his face.

'Shows how much of a weakling he was, beaten by someone like her.' Sasuke thought smugly, a sentiment not too dissimilar from Hinata's own. Kiba was in shock, he'd never seen something like what he's just witnessed. Chōji who was finally eating a bag of chips after what he's seen in the forest, went green in the face again. Shino and Shikamaru were pensive, something was wrong, after all if something was wrong then Gaara's teammates and the other Spirit ninja would have reacted, but they just stood there watching; no, this wasn't over yet, a sentiment shared by just about all the higher ranked shinobi in the area watching the fight.

"Proctor –" Tenten started to say before the chunks of Gaara's body turned grainy and changed into sand before shifting, rising upwards before taking Gaara's form, wound free.

"I told you, it really was a shame that you had me as your opponent ." He said simply before he fired arrows from his wind bow at Tenten, impacting her shoulders with a squelch, rendering Tenten's arm's useless. Tenten's shrieks of pain rang through the arena as she dropped to her knees as the pain wracked through her.

"Proctor this match is over, she can't fight anymore with her arms disabled." Gaara said moving for the balcony.

"Winner is Gaara of the Spirit village." Hayate declared. Gaara turned back to Tenten who was swaying from side to side, the arrows clearly visible on the other side of her shoulders, before dissolving his bow and the arrows, leaving two bloody punctures behind. Gaara made his way to the observation area where his teammates, friends and family were giving approving smiles and other congratulations.

"Very well done Gaara you used your head and showed only what you needed to win." Rōshi said approvingly. After Tenten was taken by the medics and the arena cleared the electronic board flared to life as it cycled through names.

"Will Fū of the…Hidden Spirit and Shino… Aburame of the Hidden Leaf please come… to the arena." Hayate managed to get out through his coughing fit. Fū vaulted over the railing to stand in the middle of the arena waiting for Shino to get into position half a minute later.

"Combatants ready…begin!" instantly Fū unfolded her arms, her inner beasts wings flaring to life on her back making her rise up into the air. Shino kept a cool appearance as he eyed his floating opponent, trying to get his hive of insects under control, who were rustling uncontrollably in Fū's presence.

'They have been cautious of all of the ninja from the Spirit village, this one especially…they will not cooperate with me.' The young Aburame thought.

"Come on, what's taking you so long? Let's fight!" Fū shouted from her mid-air position.

"I cannot fight without my hive, and my hive is rebelling against me, they will not fight you therefore I cannot. I forfeit." Shino said calmly but loudly enough for the referee to hear him.

"Winner by forfeit, Fū of the Spirit village!"

The teams on the sidelines were gawking at the announcement, Shino's team the most shocked amongst the lot.

"How…what the hell?" Kiba exclaimed as Shino returned to his teams side.

"I too, am curious Shino, just how is it that that girl as able to neutralize your hive without a single move." Hinata asked evenly.

'Assuming that she didn't use a technique…these Spirit ninja are capable of pulling of techniques without any outward signs. Just how did that girl manage to disable Shino's hive?' Kurenai thought.

"My bugs reacted to her like they would the queen of the hive, they refused any and all commands while in her presence." Shino explained stoically. The surrounding Jōnin all narrowed their eyes hearing this

Any more discussion was halted when the electronic board flashed to life again, cycling through names, before settling on two.

'CHA! I'm up, time to how Sasuke how much I've grown!' Sakura's inner personality screamed as she made her way to the arena. Meanwhile Temari jumped down from the spectators balcony, a look of great displeasure spread across her face.

'Great, this isn't going to be fun at all…' Temari drawled.

"Next match…Begin!" Hayate declared.

As soon as the match began Temari took a ready stance, Sakura drew two kunai in a reverse grip from her weapons pouch.

"You should save yourself the trouble and just forfeit, there's no way that you could beat me, you barely have enough chakra to be classified as a ninja. One move, that's all I'll need to beat you, I won't even use my hands." Temari gloated. Sakura scowled at the blonde girl.

"You don't know who you're talking to, I was the runner up for Rookie of the Year in my graduating class next to Sasuke." Sakura screeched. Temari twisted her pinkie finger in her ear.

"I'm sorry, did you say something, I couldn't hear you over the screeching. If you won't quit it's your own fault what's about to happen to you. Great Breakthrough!" an instant later a gale force wind slammed into Sakura bashing her into the wall behind her. Asuma gaped openly at this, his cigarette falling silently to the ground.

'She just used a wind jutsu without any seals or a weapon medium, such power...' The Sarutobi male mentally gawked as Hayate declared Temari the winner and had Sakura's unconscious body removed from the field.

* * *

Another explosion sounded through the trees of the forest of death as another one of the trees Orochimaru was using to gather his bearings on was reduced to ashes, courtesy of another Fireball from Shinkou. From the get go Orochimaru was on the defensive, the side of a fight that he wasn't normally on. Even his snake summons weren't helping any, as they would refuse to do his bidding in attacking the man he was currently engaged in combat with.

'And I can't get out of here either, every time I try I've been kicked back into this area so that bastard of a Kage can inspect my Seal when it reacts to my presence.' Orochimaru seethed, finding yet another tree to use his attack prevention jutsu, Leech All Creation so he could get out of the area. The tree he was sinking into was turned to ashes an instant later as Shinkou jumped towards him from the tree behind the one that the snake nin was on seconds before. Orochimaru opened his mouth and launched a snake with his Kusanagi sword at the oncoming ninja, hoping to hack him to pieces. The snap hiss of an energy blade coming to life was all Orochimaru heard as the Kusanagi sword slammed into that of which Shinkou had seemed to have borrowed from Naruto.

'I know my own sword doesn't stand a chance against the Kusanagi, I'll have to thank Naruto for letting me borrow his when this is all over.' Shinkou thought as he pulled his own blade from his back and while he was pushing against the Kusanagi with the Chakra Blade of Naruto's, sliced at the snake Orochimaru was using to control the sword. The hiss of pain from the snake and the howl of pain from Orochimaru was enough to let Shinkou know he was successful in his attempt. Moulding chakra into his hands Shinkou aimed his palm at the flailing snake/tongue before letting loose the build-up. From his position on the ground Orochimaru barely saw the attack before it hit, and thousands of volts of electricity shot down his tongue making his body seize violently.

'Not too much Shinkou, we do need him alive, he needs to make Sasuke flee the village so we can kill him without political fallout, also flushing out Madara so that Naruto and the other tailed ninja can confront him and kill him.' Shinkou admonished himself internally as he cut the power to his technique.

'_You've had me playing this cat and mouse game for 10 whole minutes now, are you sure you're not done yet?' _Shinkou asked Naruto through his seal.

"_Just about, yank him back here once more so I can confirm my analysis.'_ Naruto answered. Shinkou looked down at his target again to see a literal wave of serpents racing towards him, sword tips poised to run right through him. Thinking quickly Shinkou used Substitution, taking place of the bark of the branch that Orochimaru was using to stand on before launching another lightning attack at the former Leaf ninja, sending the creatures parading as the pale man was sent sailing through the air back in Naruto's direction.

Back with Naruto, who was using a linking seal to 'plug in' his mind to the Curse Seal to analyse it, felt it act up again as its creator came flying towards him again. After a few quick moments Naruto unplugged himself from Anko's Curse Mark and righted himself as Anko heaved deeply for air.

"Ok Miss Miterashi, now that I understand its mechanics I can remove it, that will have to wait till after this portion of the exam has concluded though. Before that though we should send your wayward sensei away. Giant Wind Bullet!" Naruto called before launching his attack at the approaching Orochimaru at a high angle. The Snake man was picked up by the attack like a leaf in a gale and sent soaring through the trees of the forest, smashing and breaking several tree branches during his assent before vanishing from sight.

After Naruto lost sight of Orochimaru's flying form he turned back to Anko who was hunched over on her knees still trying to regain her bearings.

"How are you feeling now that the pedo man is gone?" he asked the special jōnin.

"I'll…be fine…What happened…to your friend?" She said through her deep breathing as her seal quietened down.

"He'll be here shortly, at least he better be, I want my sword back." Naruto said jokingly.

"What he said before…about you being the son of our Fourth Hokage, was that the truth?" Anko asked after a moment.

"Yep, I am Naruto Uzumaki/Namikaze. I left this village 5 years ago and I'm back to finish some outstanding business that falls into a long term plan of mine, that sees a madman meet the god of death." Naruto explained.

"Huh?" Naruto sighed at her.

"Fine I'll use small words. First of all, the Uchiha family are a corrupt, evil clan. Secondly, The Sharingan, which can be used to enslave me and those like me with its power, has to be vaporised from this plane of existence. Thirdly, to accomplish this, I have to flush out Madara Uchiha from wherever he's hiding, which is where Sasuke comes in, you following me so far?" Naruto asked. Anko deftly nodded.

"Right, so the plan is to use Sasuke, who has the only accessible pure Sharingan bloodline left in the world, a prime target of Madara's, to defect from the Leaf to seek power from the pedo snake man to be in a position where we can kill him, then kill Madara and save the world from his megalomania in one fell swoop. Having Sasuke defect so that my village doesn't end up drawn into a pointless war with your village is just a bonus, I don't want to have to kill the people in this village, regardless of what they did to me in my younger years, simply because it would be an utterly pointless loss of life for your village." Naruto explained.

"Hey! We're not weak!" Anko declared.

"Compared to the nine tailed beasts I have at my beck and call, yes, you are; which is why I'm doing this subterfuge, you're village covets the Sharingan but its corrupting influence has to be cleansed from the world, _this_ is the only way I can do that without senseless bloodshed, I don't want my daughter to know the needless slaughter of war started by one man, that is why I'm doing all of this. If you can understand that, even just a little bit, I'll remove your Cursed Seal at your earliest convenience." Naruto paused, looking into the direction that Shinkou was coming from.

'Lord Reikage, may I have a few moments with her please…as my former self? She won't believe me otherwise.' Shinkou asked. Naruto conceded, Shinkou coming through the trees seconds later.

"I trust you didn't have any trouble?" Naruto asked. Shinkou shook his head handing Naruto his sword hilt back to him.

"No Lord Reikage, though it was much more difficult without my Sharingan, but that would have blown my cover and we can't have that happen yet." Shinkou answered.

"Hold on! After this spiel you gave me seconds ago, saying you want to rid the world of the Sharingan bloodline forever, you say that this guy has the Sharingan? Your own trusted ninja? How the hell am I supposed to believe anything you say?" Anko asked incredulously. Naruto motioned for Shinkou to come forward, which he did, making Anko tense up.

"He will explain everything. Don't freak out about what you're about to see." Naruto advised the purple haired woman before temporarily unlocking the transformation on Shinkou's physique, the man's entire body shifting and twisting till Anko saw Itachi Uchiha standing in front of her. Itachi turned to face the stupefied Anko, who was gaping openly at him, a small smile adorning his face.

"Hello again Anko, it's been a while." Anko nodded mutely.

'Itachi Uchiha is here. ITACHI UCHIHA is in front of me!' her mind screamed at her. Anko blinked several times to make sure she wasn't seeing things, then checked for genjutsu.

"I assure you Anko, its really me, though for all intents and purposes my name is Shinkou now. I mean you no harm." Itachi said just before Naruto locked Itachi's illusionary disguise again.

"So…you're not dead?" Anko asked slowly.

"No, only in name…can we talk?" Shinkou asked her awkwardly. Anko shifted uneasily for a moment.

"Pull up a branch." She replied uneasily.

"I'll leave you two to your talking, I've some preliminary matches to watch." Naruto dismissed himself, Shinkou only giving a single nod in acknowledgement, not turning from Anko in the slightest.

'If he's lucky enough he'll get laid, he's far too uptight.' Naruto thought with a grin before vanishing. There was a moment of silence before Shinkou broke it.

"I know you must have a lot of questions for me Anko, I'll be as honest in answering them as I can." Shinko started.

"Why did you do it?" Shinkou didn't have to ask what it was that she was talking about. He proceeded to explain to her the events of that night.

* * *

Yugito was looking rather proud of herself when Naruto got to the tower's arena.

"Alright what's got you in such a good mood?" he asked cautiously.

"I kicked a bitches ass." Was all he got out of her.

"What the hell…oh you mean you beat the shit out of the Inuzuka and his nin dog." Naruto said in realization.

"They tried this teamwork drill attack but I just lit them on fire with Nibi's fire when they came in striking distance." Yugito explained with no small amount of smugness to her words.

*Flashback*

Yugito narrowed her eyes on the jacket wearing boy with his dog at his feet.

"Come on Akamaru lets do this, this cat chick doesn't stand a chance against us."

"That kind of thinking will get you killed in the field dog boy, be grateful I can't go all out in this fight." Yugito retorted before drawing out some chakra, blue like flames dancing all over her body. Kiba tossed a food pill to his companion and performed the Man Beast clone before they began their teg team Fang over Fang technique [Gatsūga], spinning towards Yugito at a great velocity. Just before they hit her Yugito increased the intensity of her flames, Kiba and Akamaru unable to stop themselves from crashing into the scorching heat.

*End Flashback*

"You didn't kill them I hope." Naruto said semiseriously.

"Nah, Yugito only gave them 2nd degree burns. Have you ever seen a bald dog?" Fū asked.

"No." was Naruto's dead reply. "Who else has fought?"

"Gaara, Fū and Temari, all won without issue, Gaara was fighting a weapon orientated girl." Kimimaro answered from his perch by the wall.

"Ah, a shame that, a total mismatch. What about Fū?"

"The Aburame kid, his bugs wouldn't go near Fū, apparently his fighting style revolved so heavily on his insects he couldn't fight at all." Kankuro answered.

"Yes well, let that serve as an example to you Kankuro, one trick ponies are good only for so long. Temari?" Naruto asked.

"I beat up the pink haired howler monkey, didn't even have to try, she was a civilian carrying weapons." Temari answered with a haughty tone.

"Right, and I arrived just as two Leafies started to go at it, just my luck." Naruto sighed as he looked down at the arena floor where Hinata and Sai were eyeing each other, Hinata with her Byakugan active and Sai with a ink brush and a scroll in hand.

"So how are we?" Rōshi asked. "How did things go in the forest?"

"As well as can be expected, Shinkou gave the snake an ass kicking while I looked the seal over, then Shinkou showed himself to the proctor. I left after that." Naruto answered watching as Hinata destroyed another ink creature.

"I don't see why she's drawing this match out as much as she is, she knows how to beat his technique." Temari commented eyeing the fight below.

"Yes that's true, however a fighter is not only their technique, being raised as she has, the Hyuuga heir will know this, these ink techniques are not the only things this boy has going for him otherwise this fight would have been over a long time ago. Additionally we can all detect that this boy has more going on around him than at first glance, his chakra level is far greater than most his age in this village, very refined and controlled." Rōshi observed.

"His behaviour has a likeness to that of a drone, very systematic." Kai added.

"It makes you wonder just what kind of fruit-loops they have running around in this village." Rōshi sniped, loudly enough for the Leaf ninja nearby to hear.

In the arena Hinata's eyes scanned her opponent, Sai created another ink creature before storing his tools in his pouch and drawing the tanto on his back, his creation storming towards her, a rhino like creature charging at her. Hinata darted to the side just as it came within ramming distance and jabbed it with a Gentle Fist strike. She quickly jumped back when the living drawing didn't fall like all before it.

"Pretty interesting strategy, lulling her into a predictable pattern and changing it at an instant later on in the fight." Kankuro mused as the ink making up the creature exploded covering Hinata's entire arm in the black substance.

"The ink is laced with chakra too, I wonder what the drone will do now that he has her arm covered in that stuff…" Hanabi thought out loud, her Byakugan activated, staring at the ink scattered throughout the arena.

"He might not get the chance to find out." Rōshi replied as he and the others felt a flux of chakra within Hinata's chakra coils.

"Kaiten!" ink sprayed everywhere as it flew off of Hinata's arm, an instant before it detonated.

"Detonating ink, now that is interesting." Naruto mused.

"He could have blown her arm off with that!" Exclaimed Lee, making sets or ears ring.

"He might've but I don't think that he expected it to, he did it as a means to demonstrate to her the position she's in, the entire area she's standing on has his ink scattered all around, he's got her trapped. The Hyuuga rely so heavily on their taijutsu, they have hardly anything else in their arsenal for situations like this. Let's see if she is a typical Hyuuga." Naruto explained loud enough for Lee and everyone else around to hear.

"I have surrounded you with my ink, surrender or I will detonate it." Hinata's reply was to simply level him with a Byakugan enhanced death glare. "Very well then." A instant later the entire arena floor blew up, completely obscuring the arena floor in a sea of fire.

"Kaiten!" Hinata shouted in the midst of the explosion, dispersing the flames around her with the Hyuuga family ultimate defence. Fū whistled in wonder at the feat.

"That is some technique."

"It is rather clever, I agree. Only one with the Hyuuga bloodline trait can pull it off too, as you need to see all around you to do it. For her to have pulled it off at her age is impressive, to say the least. The drawback to this technique, however, is the same as with their taijutsu, it requires close quarters to work properly, they force raw chakra out of all their chakra points at the same time to shield themselves in a spinning dome, it is a useless technique that wastes chakra if used unwisely. It seems her opponent knows this to some degree, he's keeping her at a distance trying to get her to use up as much chakra as he can before going in for the finish, in that moment the fight will be decided." Naruto deduced.

Hinata was breathing heavily when she finally stopped spinning from her technique, she had used a significant amount of her total chakra to use the Kaiten twice in close succession. She shook her head stiffly to throw off her dizziness from spinning around in circles, before taking a Gentle Fist stance once again.

"That's the other drawback," Naruto said with a small smirk. "No matter who you are, if you spin around in a circle on the spot you'll get dizzy, a state which the enemy can take advantage of."

"I forfeit." Absolute silence swept the arena as Sai declared his submission. The ref too was shocked but was quick to declare Hinata the victor as Sai vanished from the area. There were murmors of the matches outcome for several moments as the arena was cleared. The board flashed though names once again, silencing all chatter as the board chose the next match.

Sasuke Uchiha VS Chōji Akimichi.

Sasuke was quick to vault over the railing to the arena floor as Hinata made her way to the stands, but not before Kakashi gave him a firm warning about using his chakra or Sharingan with that seal on his neck.

Sasuke was a bit miffed about facing against Chōji, he wanted to fight one of the Spirit nin for the slight they made against him in the forest, just thinking about that spurred anger within him. A throb from the seal on his neck made him freeze as he felt the mark call to him. About to latch onto it he felt something else wash over him, inside him, making the mark recede back to its dormant state.

'What the hell was that?' he thought looking around. He caught the eye of the Reikage, who was looking right at him. The Uchiha scion's eyes widened when the Kage wagged his index finger from side to side, his message clear.

Sasuke wasn't going to be using that seal in this fight.

'Who does he think he is, restricting me from using the seal?' Sasuke raged mentally as he stood in the arena waiting for Chōji.

Kakashi noticed the byplay between his student and the foreign leader and made a beeline to the dark garbed kage.

"What was that about? I know you did something to my student just then." Kakashi asked tersely. Naruto levelled Kakashi with dead look.

"You might not know this Hatake, but one of your missing nin, Orochimaru of the legendary losers, placed a Cursed Seal on your Uchiha during the second stage of the exam. I don't think I have to tell you exactly what that means, do I?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.

"Orochimaru was in the exams?" Kakashi said in alarm.

"In the Forest of Death, targeting Sasuke for the Sharingan bloodline to be precise." Naruto answered.

"Why wouldn't he tell me about it?" Kakashi asked in bewilderment. Naruto gave Kakashi a deadpanned look as if to say 'are you shitting me?'.

"Are you joking, the seal gives you demented chakra, which in this case is more power than your fool of a student has ever felt before. If he told you about it you'd seal it away with the minute skills you have in sealing, and knowing what I do of him, he wouldn't want that so he chose not to tell you. Anko Miterashi has the same seal on her, I know from her what that thing will do to him, so I stopped it."

"What will it do exactly?" Kakashi asked crossing his arms.

"The seal houses within itself a small portion of Orochimaru himself. When active it will eat at his sanity with the promise of ultimate power from him, with that power within him he won't be able to distinguish between friend or foe. Under that seals influence your student will kill his opponent in this fight, so I stopped it." Naruto explained. "Said power is supped up chakra making the bearer feel invincible, when Sasuke sucumms to the pull of the Seal, he'll try to go the source of the Mark's power to get more of it."

'What are you doing Naruto? Why would you say that?' Hitomi queried at her host/partner.

'The purpose it two fold, one, it'll make it seem as though I care for the lives of the leafies in the exam and lessen the intensity of the eyes from the people watching us. Secondly when that Uchiha scum does run it'll be easier for them to believe that the seal made him go crazy and run after the giver of the seal, making it a prime target to kill him and flush out Madara. The less heat we fall under when he dies the better off we'll be, especially since by that time our baby will have been born and sealed into Hanabi.' Naruto replied.

"You best turn your eye back to the fight Hatake, without his chakra Sasuke is at a major disadvantage; he can't use his precious bloodline or any jutsu, he's going to need all the support he can get to get through this." Naruto advised the one eye ninja.

"Come on Sasuke, you can do it!" Cheered Sakura with her shrilly voice, who had come back from the medics. Ino was of half mind to join in with Sakura but Chōji was a close friend of hers as well as her teammate.

"Get down here fatso, I don't have all day." Sasuke spat. While not usually one to use crass language, being denied the use of his chakra and the mark given to him by Orochimaru had loosened his morals some.

Chōji, who was at odds about fighting the number one student in his academy year, was contemplating whether or not to forfeit the match when Sasuke's shout met his ears. Shikamaru and Ino stiffened instantly as they saw Chōji freeze in mid step.

'Sasuke's done it now, what a drag.' Groaned Shikamaru.

'Why would Sasuke say that to Chōji?' Ino thought in confusion.

"What…did you just say?" Chōji asked slowly but loud enough for Sasuke to hear him.

"I called you a fatso, I won't even need to use my Sharingan or jutsu to beat you." Sasuke said boldly, enraging Chōji. Chōji barged his way to the arena floor, standing to meet Sasuke at the starting position.

"Next match, Sasuke Uchiha vs Chōji Akamichi, begin!"

Almost immediately after the match started Chōji went through the motions for one of his clan techniques.

"Baika no Jutsu!" [Expansion Jutsu!] His stomach blew up to roughly 5 times its normal size. Sasuke took his families traditional taijutsu stance in response. Chōji's head, arms and legs shot inwards, turning him into a perfect ball as chakra burst outward prompting Chōji's ball form to begin to roll.

"Nikudan Sensha!" [Human Boulder] What followed next was a game of cat and mouse, Chōji charging at Sasuke and Sasuke dodging the charges from the Akamichi heir. Eventually however Chōji ran out of steam and changed back, having tired himself out using his family technique for longer than he was used to. It didn't help that he kept bashing into walls, just narrowly missing Sasuke, who was at this point heaving deeply.

"Ah, I stand corrected Cyclops, your student didn't need neither his bloodline nor jutsu to win, though he was incredibly lucky that that Akamichi didn't have as much stamina as him or he'd have been road kill." Naruto said airily. Kakashi gritted his teeth at the joking way that Naruto was talking about his student.

Back in the arena Chōji reverted back to normal size, his chakra and stamina giving out. Sasuke capitalized on this and dashed forward, bombarding the clan heir with a barrage of quick taijutsu, enough to knock the chubby boy out.

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha!" declared the ref as medics came and took Chōji's sleeping form away for treatment for the injuries he'd received. Kakashi took this time to jump down to the floor to catch Sasuke before he moved for the stairs.

"Hold on Sasuke, we have to go take care of that cursed mark on your shoulder. It can't remain unchecked." Kakashi said strongly, gripping Sasuke's shoulder tightly when Sasuke tried to move passed him. "This isn't a request Sasuke, come with me." Performing a duel Body Flicker Kakashi and Sasuke vanished from the arena in a flurry of leaves.

Without pause Hayate continued with the exam, starting the selection board once again. Names flashed for a few seconds before it stopped.

Rei Shioha vs Ino Yamanaka

"I was getting impatient, I'll enjoy this." Rei said as she made her way to the stairs. Ino, meanwhile, looked over at her opponent moving for the floor and stared in confusion.

"She's my opponent? Is she even old enough to-"

"Are you going to fight are you going to continue yammering? Get your anorexic butt down here so we can get started!" Rei shouted from the arena floor. Ino ran to the floor and stood opposite Rei, a confident look on her face.

"I'll do you a favour and end this quickly." Ino arrogantly declared.

"Contestants ready…FIGHT!" Hayate shouted.

"Blondie, DON'T look into my eyes!" Rei said quickly.

Now when someone says don't do something 9 times out of 10 you're going to do it, in this case, Ino did just that and locked gazes with Rei. Instantly Ino felt different as the world around her shimmered like the reflection on water. Everyon looking on saw a shimmer emanate from Rei but otherwise saw nothing happen.

Up in he stands Hanabi was chuckling softly at the simple ruse.

"This was too easy, that blonde has already lost the match." Her words drew the attention of Ino's comrades.

"What are you talking about? The match just started." Neji asked in confusion.

"Rei's primary skill is based in the illusionary craft, she is to skilled in the art that she can bend reality around her and reshape it to her will." Sets of eyes widened when images began to materialize out of thin air on the field. "That blonde is literally at the mercy of Rei's imagination."

"She doesn't have to be very big or very strong, Rei's deadliest weapon is her mind, and while she might be young her mind is razor sharp, her power is likened to your Kurama clan's genjutsu, only far more potent." Naruto said with a laugh. Kurenai's eyes bulged at this revelation.

'She's like Yakumo…and he said this girl's powers were far more potent than any Kurama's.' Kurenai thought as the horrifying reality of what was about to happen to Ino settled in on her.

"Let's see how good you are." Rei said as the apparitions became clearer revealing themselves to Ino, whose eyes widened considerably.

* * *

AN: What do you think is going to happen to Ino? I have no clue yet, give me a suggestion and I'll throw it around in my head to see if it'll work.

Fight scenes are not my forte, I klnow that the fights in this chapter are quite lackluster but I can only do the best of my ability at the time the scene was written.

Now with that out of the way, I have a seat to sit on while I wait for reviews.

Cheers!


	19. Preliminaries

AN:

I must apologize, I have been heavily distracted with some things recently which have hampered this story's progression.

And also, admittedly, I have become addicted to a new game that has just been released, Star Wars: The Old Republic, so my time writing has been cut down significantly.

Not much of an update for such a long wait I know, but this is the best I could do, better something for an update than nothing however, so consider this my early Christmas present for all of you.

Enjoy!

* * *

Previously, on The Village of Chakra:

"She doesn't have to be very big or very strong, Rei's deadliest weapon is her mind, and while she might be young her mind is razor sharp, her power is likened to your Kurama clan's genjutsu, only far more potent." Naruto said with a laugh. Kurenai's eyes bulged at this revelation.

'She's like Yakumo…and he said this girl's powers were far more potent than any Kurama's.' Kurenai thought as the horrifying reality of what was about to happen to Ino settled in on her.

"Let's see how good you are." Rei said as the apparitions became clearer revealing themselves to Ino, whose eyes widened considerably.

Chapter 19

"You could be so much more than you are Ino, you disappoint me. You said you would make me proud but all you have done is bring shame upon yourself and your family." An elderly woman said sadly. The Leaf gennin, Ino's teammates and sensei in particular were at a loss for who this was, they had never seen her before.

"G-Grandma?" Ino stammered. Eyes widened hearing this admission, this was Ino's grandmother? She looked quite like Ino herself, platinum, almost white hair in a similar style to that of Ino's own, just a bit shorter, wearing a white kimono. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at this sight, just how was it that this foreign kunoichi knew what Ino's grandmother looked like?

"You told me that you would enrol into the ninja academy and become a strong kunoichi, to make me proud of you as my granddaughter. Do you remember?" Ino nodded hastily, having slipped out of her taijutsu form.

"Y-Yes grandma, I remember." The preteen blonde stammered.

"You are a Yamanaka, born to a family of mind walkers and telepaths. Seeing you as you are, you have not honoured your promise to me, you cannot even perform our basic family jutsu correctly."

"B-but Grandma, I met someone! Someone who I can get married to who is really hot. He's an Uchiha, the last one in the village." Ino hastily explained. The elderly ladies face grew grim.

"You dishonour me Ino, you threw away your promise to me over a boy, I am ashamed of you." Ino hunched over as she'd been nailed in the gut.

'Something is not right here.' Observed Neji, activating his Byakugan. With his bloodline active the colour of the world bled away into black and white, whilst also confirming Neji's suspicion, The Yamanaka was in a powerful genjutsu, and was completely hypnotised into talking with her 'grandmother' while her opponent was free to move around the field unhindered. He also noticed the second illusion/mirage was in another layer of Rei's illusion, setting up wire traps and explosive notes. Neji's eyes narrowed further when he realized, he could not find the smaller girl in the arena at all.

"But he's not just a boy Grandma!" Ino said defensively. "He's the only Uchiha left in the village!"

"So?"

Naruto looked at the display in front of him quizzily.

'What are you doing Rei, you could have ended this fight at the start, why are you dragging this out?' Naruto thought curiously.

"What? What do you mean _so_?" Ino asked incredulously.

"An Uchiha is not anything special, they were all wiped out, save one, in a single night, what is so special about this lone scion?" the elderly Yamanaka asked.

"You cannot give me a proper answer can you? Other than being an Uchiha you know next to nothing about him, do you?"

"I…I….no, no I don't." Ino answered dejectedly.

"Let this match be the eye opener you need to become a true Yamanaka, and maybe help save the world when the time comes." Ino looked at her grandmother in confusion before she faded away, leaving Ino surrounded with ninja wire rigged with explosive tags.

"You have been in an illusion since the beginning of the match, I have you trapped on all sides with no escape viable, surrender or die." Rei said from her starting position, having not moved a fraction. It took Ino a moment to realize what had just happened before an idea popped into her head.

"You might have me surrounded but I'm not out of this just yet." Ino formed several handseals, ending the string in the bird sign with the likeness of a window, aiming it at Rei. "Shintenshin no Jutsu! (Mind Body Switch Technique)." Instantly Ino's body slumped to the ground. Rei didn't even react to Ino's technique, her body beginning to fade away. When Rei's body vanished from sight another Rei could be seen behind the slumped form of Ino.

"Procter call the match, she has lost consciousness and is unable to continue." Rei declared.

"Winner: Rei Shioha." Hayate announced. Ino's body was collected and brought to the stands by her teammates as Rei returned to her comrades.

"That was an interesting strategy Rei. If you don't mind me asking though, why did you end it like that, you could have won it right from the start." Rōshi asked.

"My opponent is a fangirl, my strategy was to target that trait of her personality and attack it. Since I did not know if she had an extended family or not I used her appearance as a template and aged it to be the appropriate age, then I implanted the thought that she was seeing her grandmother in front of her. When that worked, I went about setting up my trap around her, leaving a mirage in my place while I moved around unhindered and unseen. I did what I did to try shake her of her fangirl tendencies in the event that she might become an ally in the future, a fangirl is useless in the field and in every day circumstances, only having their crush on their minds all the time." Rei explained.

"Very well done Rei, keep in mind however that your opponent was not up to your usual standards, do not grow overconfident, she is a fangirl so the victory is minor." Naruto advised.

"Hai Lord Reikage, understood." She replied.

"I find it interesting that you tried to shake her fixation on the Uchiha." Hanabi added.

"She can be an extraordinary kunoichi with that mind technique of hers, she just needs to shake the dead weight holding her back." Rei argued.

"Agreed. Now be quiet, the next match is being decided." Rebuked Naruto as the board cycled through contestant names.

Rock Lee VS Kimimaro

"Yosh! It is my turn now, I will reclaim what is lost!" Lee shouted, prompting those closest to him, sans Gai to block this ears.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Neji demanded through ringing ears.

"Before the start of the First Exam someone did something to the Springtime of Youth. During this match, I will reclaim it!" Lee declared with fire in his eyes. Gai teared up at his mini doppelgangers exclamation.

"OH Lee! Do it for the Springtime of Youth!" the older man cried. The universe twitched suddenly, the sound of a lone cricket penetrating the area, making Neji and Kurenai, the only two present that knew of what could of happened, sigh in relief.

Kimimaro had jumped down to the arena floor and began clicking his joints with very audible snaps drawing the attention of the crowds in the stands.

"Kimimaro, don't use any of your Dances past number 1 if you can help it, save them for later." Naruto called to the white haired teen. The 15 year old nodded in acknowledgment before bending over backwards, clicking the joints in his back, before moving to his legs and doing the same.

"Lee be very careful, this boy is dangerous." Gai warned his student before the fuzzy browed boy jumped down to the arena floor.

Moving to the starting position Lee shifted into his Strong Fist Taijutsu stance, Kimimaro doing the same.

Naruto's body shifted suddenly, Hitomi's visage on the outside with her quite noticeable baby bump.

"A taijutsu fight huh?' Hitomi said suddenly. "This is going to get interesting."

"Yes, it sure will, let's see how far this little green thing will push Kimimaro, this will be quite a show." Naruto added, his head sprouting on her shoulder.

"Hey mom, how's my baby sister?" Hanabi asked moving away from the railing to stand by her parents. Hitomi took hold of Hanabi's smaller hand and touched it to her bulging stomach. Hanabi's hand rested there for a moment before she felt a kick.

"I think she recognises you, little one." Naruto said proudly ruffling his daughters hair affectionately. Hanabi squirmed and groaned at the act but Hitomi spotted the large grin on her face showing how much she liked it.

Hayate cleared his throat, coughing a few times after before announcing the start of the next match.

"Rock Lee of the Leaf VS Kimimaro of Spirit. Begin!" the referee called before jumping backwards and out of the way.

"In this match, my opponent, I will reclaim my Youthfulness!" Lee shouted before vanishing in a burst of speed. Lee reappeared right in front of Kimimaro with a leg swung back to strike, Kimimaro calmly bent over backwards letting Lee's kick pass harmlessly over him. Lee reset his footing and kick at Kimimaro again, only to have his opponent jump gracefully over the attack.

"Come on Kimmi!" Hanabi shouted. "Give him a chance, it's not fair otherwise."

Kimimaro scrunched his face up in distaste as he realigned his bodies orientation.

"These exams are not about being fair Hanabi. But ok," Kimimaro turned to Lee. "I will allow you 2 full minutes to attack me without my retaliating, after that I will begin to fight you." Kimimaro shifted to a neutral pose, standing completely straight.

Neji's eyes widened a fraction, he and Lee were just about even in taijutsu, with Lee just a bit below himself, but even then, to give Lee 2 minutes free rein in a fight showed either that Kimimaro was extremely cocky, or that Lee was about to be in some serious trouble.

"It is not honourable to fight an opponent that is not fighting back, but if you insist I will do as you ask." Lee blurred out of sight again, reappearing in the air above Kimimaro.

"LEAF HURRICANE!" Lee's foot slammed into Kimimaro with great force, so much so it cracked the ground where Kimimaro was standing; Kimimaro however, was completely unaffected. Asuma, Kurenai, Shikamaru, Hinata and Neji's eyes all widened at the force behind Lee's kick and even more shocked that Kimimaro was completely unaffected, his body hadn't even shifted an inch.

'What the hell?' Neji mentally cried. He'd seen kicks like that from Lee destroy entire trees with ease, to see it have no effect on the white haired teen was indeed frightening.

'It…had no effect?' Lee gaped as he observed his opponent.

"If this is the pinnacle of your power then you have no chance. 1 minute 50 seconds." Kimimaro said dully.

For the entirety of Kimimaro's countdown Lee attacked with various taijutsu combos, all being for naught as they did absolutely nothing to Kimimaro.

"Hey Bones, is your countdown finished yet, your boring us up here!" Isaribi complained, speaking up for the first time since the fights had begun.

"Leave him alone Fish, he was only giving his opponent a fighting chance." Rei countered.

"…3 2 1. Time is up." bone spikes shot out of Kimimaro's elbows and palms as Lee came in with another roundhouse kick towards the chest.

'Remember Kimimaro, do not kill him, wound him as Gaara did his opponent.' Naruto reaffirmed. Kimimaro sighed, using his right elbow bone blade to block another kick before pulling all four bone spikes back into his body.

"Consider yourself lucky I can't use any lethal moves in this fight." In the blink of an eye Kimimaro slammed a closed fist into Lee's face, smashing him into a wall which dented heavily.

"Why doesn't Lee use any jutsu, he can't seem to even harm this guy." Ino asked, having returned to her body following her missed Mind Body Transfer.

"It's because he can't use them, he's completely incapable of moulding chakra, nin and genjutsu are impossible for him." Gai answered as Lee removed himself from the wall. "When I first met him he was completely useless, with no talent whatsoever." Pairs of eyes turned to the Gai clone in bewilderment. "It's true that ninja with no ninjutsu or genjutsu skills are rare, that's why the only option open to Lee if he wanted to be a ninja, was taijutsu." Gai seemed to be thinking about something before coming to a decision.

"Lee! It's time, take them off!" Gai shouted.

"But sir, I thought you said-" Lee asked befuddled.

"It's alright Lee, I'll allow it this once." Gai said giving a good guy pose to his look alike. Lee was quick to jump to high ground, perching atop of the statue of the ram hand seal and removed his leg warmers. About to unhook the weight on his ankles Lee was punched square in the back by Kimimaro sending him flying once again.

"It may not be sporting but the way of the ninja is that we attack when it is most advantageous, before our opponent can form a strategy to counter your own, you should have done whatever it was you were about to do during my 2 minute grace, now you will lose." Kimimaro took hold of a bone in his arm and pulled it out, revealing a hilt-less short bone sword. There was a cry of 'Disgusting' from Ino before Kimimaro vanished appearing in front of Lee with his sword poised to stab Lee right through.

Lee however was not to be underestimated and was quick to dodge the attack before throwing one of his leg weights at Kimimaro in his zeal to create some distance. The weight smacked into Kimimaro's arm causing it to suddenly bend outward with a snap. The weights had been caught on a set of bones that sprouted from Kimimaro's wrists, the weights having snapped one of the hook like bones because of the force of the hit. Kimimaro picked up the weight and tossed it aside causing a huge crash on the floor as dust rose up.

'How heavy is that?' many were thinking as Kimimaro's wrist bodes retreated into his arm leaving unblemished skin in its wake.

"Let's see if that made any difference." In an instant Kimimaro was upon Lee once again, slashing wildly as Lee who was desperately trying to make ground to remove his other weight.

"Stay still." Kimimaro stomped/planted his foot into the ground, before the ground began to shake. White spikes erupted around Lee prompting him to leap upwards where Kimimaro was waiting for him. Taking the chance, while in mid-air Lee removed his leg warmer and unhooked his other weight, leaving it to crash to the ground while Lee tried to parry Kimimaro's sword strike.

With both legs now free and at his maximum speed Lee was able to narrowly escape a sword stab at his side, kicking at his opponents sword arm. Lee's kick moved Kimimaro's arm off course opening the white haired teen to a follow up kick that slammed into Kimimaro's side. Lee back flipped several times before landing on the ground and retaking his taijutsu stance before eyeing his opponent. Kimimaro it seemed, was relatively unharmed from Lee's attack, the only sign that something had happened was that his clothes were slightly ruffled.

"You had caught me off guard, before. I will not make that mistake again." Lee declared before taking off towards his opponent again. In an instant Lee had his heel hovering millimetres from Kimimaro's neck while Kimimaro had skewered Lee through the sides of his stomach from bone spikes from Kimimaro's knees and another from Kimimaro's arm going through his shoulder. Kimimaro looked at Lee's wide, stunned eyes.

"You are not a taijutsu Master yet, you still have a long way to go before you can even think to be one." Kimimaro said before retracting his bodes making Lee fall to the ground as his wounds spurted blood. The older boy moved toward the stands before turning back to the bleeding Lee. "You do have potential however."

Hayate was quick to call the match and called the medics for Lee who was quickly removed from the arena. Gai was torn, with concern for his taijutsu only student and staying for his last gennin's match.

"Gai sensei, you should go with the medics tending to Lee, not to mention Tenten, you needn't stick around for me since we don't even know when my match is going to be." The long haired boy reasoned. The eccentric jounin turned to Neji with a look that the younger man could not discern.

"Are you sure Neji?" Gai asked in a rare bout of seriousness.

"Yes, they are my teammates, I want you to see to them, I'll be fine." Neji said with a grim expression. 'At least, I hope so.'

"Alright, if you're sure, I will see to your teammates. Good luck Neji." Gai threw a good guy pose at his Hyuuga pupil before disappearing.

Moments after Gai's departure, the board flared to life again cycling through the rest of the combatants.

Hanabi Namikaze vs. Neji Hyuuga

"Alright, my turn!" Hanabi declared with joy, dancing a small jig before vaulting over the railing to the arena floor, summersaulting in the air several times before landing with grace in front of the referee.

'Won't this be an interesting match…' Hayate thought as he watched Hanabi go from hyper one second to calm and collected the next, taking a neutral stance. Neji moved to stand opposite Hanabi, taking up the traditional Gentle Fist stance of the Hyuuga family.

"Before we begin," Neji spoke up, deterring Hayate from starting the match. "Can I interest you in a small bargain?" Hanabi's eyes viewed him shrewdly.

"Depends on what's on the table." Hanabi countered.

"An exchange of information, we are from the same family line; win or lose all I want is to exchange life stories." Neji asked.

"That seems fair, I accept; don't expect me to just kneel over, I might just end up killing you if you don't take me seriously." Hanabi answered. Not moments later Hayate started the match.

Instantly Neji shot forwards at Hanabi, poised to strike at the younger girl with a palm strike. Hanabi pivoted on the spot, raising her leg in her turn to meet Neji's palm. There was a small pop of displaced air as the chakra from Neji's hit met the chakra coming off Hanabi's foot. Caught off guard at the result of his attack Neji was unprepared for when Hanabi slammed her raised foot into the ground, causing the ground to shake fiercely, fissures spreading from the point of impact.

Eyes in the stands popped open at the display of strength produced by Hanabi, who had quickly reset her stance and darted towards Neji's staggering form.

'Do NOT let her hit me!' Neji thought quickly, twisting his body out of Hanabi's way to avoid a hit in the stomach. Turning on the spot Neji lashed out with a Gentle Fist strike, scoring a hit on Hanabi's shoulder, popping it out of place.

"AGH!" Hanbi exclaimed as she gripped her dislocated shoulder with her opposite hand.

"You caught me off guard with that heel drop but I've dislocated your shoulder, you won't be able to continue." Neji spoke up, breathing a bit unevenly.

"Don't be so sure of yourself Neji, I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Hanabi said with a low grunt, as she popped her shoulder joint back into place, her hand on her injured shoulder glowing a feint green hue. Neji, stared at her in shock, he hadn't accounted for something like this.

'Scolding Bullet!' Hanabi said mentally before firing a boiling gob of water from her mouth at her opponent. Neji was quick to jump out of the way, the water impacting the floor and turning to a thick vapour an instant later that began to spread itself throughout the arena.

Neji activated his Byakugan to compensate for the lack of proper sight, the colour of the world fading out into black and white, instantly scanning for his challenger within the steaming vapour.

'Left…right…back…front…ABOVE!' Neji snapped his head skyward to see a falling Hanabi zeroing in on his position from the air.

"Kaiten!" Neji began to spin on the spot, able to bring the spiralling defence up in time for it to take the brunt of Hanabi's sky dropping punch. He had started to learn this technique on his own after having it used on him during his spars with Hinata, and this was his first time using it outside of his private training. Expecting Hanabi to be thrown off to the side he was unprepared for his defence to collapse as the chakra build up within Hanabi's fist dispersed the chakra at the top of the dome, opening him up to a follow up punch from Hanabi's other fist, right into his shoulder that broke under the force of the hit. Neji fell harshly to the ground, gasping out in pain as his broken shoulder was jostled around as he rolled back on the floor.

Hanabi took a neutral stance once again as she looked at her downed target, whose face was scrunched up tightly to stop from screaming in pain..

"His shoulder is broken, he won't be able to continue." Hanabi told Hayate after a moments analysis, who declared her the winner. As soon as that was done Hanabi approached her family member, kneeling at his side before she began setting his busted shoulder back into place.

"This is going to hurt." Hanabi said before suddenly shifting the oddly angled clavicle (Shoulder Bone) back into place. Neji gasped in pain as his bones were reset, before slumping to the ground unconscious.

"Get someone to take him to the medics, he needs a place to rest." Hanabi instructed the referee before leaving towards the stands. Stopping at the wall to the observers stands, Hanabi turned her head back to where she came, and sucked in air to her lungs. Eyes watched as the steam premating the area was sucked back into her mouth before she walked up the wall back to her comrades.

"You want to exchange life stories with him?" Naruto asked her as she took her spot against the wall.

"To the point where he can understand how we came to live such different lives, given that our living situations are so different." She answered. "He and those with that seal on their head might be intrigued enough to find out more." Hanabi added hastily noticing her dads stare did not waiver.

Eyes turned back to the electronic board that was cycling through the remaining participants.

Kankuro VS Shikamaru Nara

"Argh….what a drag…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath. Kankuro turned to eye the Nara boy briefly before vaulting over the railing to the arena floor.

'Ok, from what I remember Shinkou Sensei telling us about this clan, they are all very well versed in battle strategy and shadow manipulation. Don't leave him alone long enough to analyse any of my moves, take him out quickly.' Kankuro thought quickly. Shikamaru had misgivings about this match, even more so because he was the one that was supposed to be fighting.

"Come on Shika! Kick his ass!" Ino cheered, slamming her palm on her teammates back sending him over the rail that he was leaning on, leaving Shikamaru to fall to a pile of limbs of the floor below.

"Geez Ino, why did you do that?" he grumbled before standing up and shuffling his feet to stand opposite his opponent.

"Combatants ready, fight!" Hayate declared, fighting back a cough in the process.

Immediately Kankuro threw his palms forward, a barrage of darts flying from his wrists at his opponent. Shikamaru dodged the swarm of projectiles.

"Kankuro's throwing those out, he must really want to finish this fight quickly." Temari commented as she watched her brother dish out volley after volley of his chakra created darts at his opponent, who was jumping every which way to evade the arrows of death.

'I can't do anything whilst he's throwing those darts all around the place.' Shikamaru thought , throwing a hail of kunai at his opponent. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed when he saw a handful of the darts littered around the field shoot up from their resting place and deflect Shikamaru's attack.

'Spider's entrapment.' Kankuro commanded. The darts scattered around the field all shot out almost transparent webs between them, completely enclosing the young Nara within their confines.

"What the hell is that?" Ino cried when she saw her teammate become completely surrounded in the webbing.

"It…looks like insect webbing." Asuma said in wonder.

'Ok, he's in. Now I just have to close it in.' Kankuro thought before commanding his cacoon to shrink around its occupant.

'Let's see how this goes…' Naruto thought as he watched Kankuro's technique unfold.

Kankuro was rewarded for is efforts when he heard a pained grunt emanate from within the webbing.

"Right, now to finish you. Binding coffin." The webbing was sucked inwards, sprouting from within an X, Shikamaru's four limbs stuck to each point.

"Well that was quick." Isaribi commented with a huff.

"Yes, but I have a feeling that the pineapple wasn't even trying to fight." Hanabi countered.

"Yeah but still…it's no fun watching a quick fight." Isaribi pouted.

"Your just cranky because you haven't had a chance to fight yet." Gaara piped in.

"No one asked you, sand man." Isaribi soured.

"…so not fair, I got an unwilling opponent." Kankuro complained.

"I was going to forfeit but my troublesome teammate pushed me down here; it was too much of a drag to go back up there so I stayed here. I was thinking about fighting back but figuring out a way to attack you while you were flinging those darts at me was just such a drag that I gave up thinking and let you catch me. I didn't really want to be in this thing anyway, it's such a drag." Drawled Shikamaru.

"Damn, I was just about to win the match too." Kankuro grunted.

"If you can even call this a match. Proctor, I forfeit," Shikamaru announced before looking Kankuro in the eye. "Now let me down, your binds are cutting off the circulation in my wrists and ankles."

"Yeah yeah, can't believe I put that much effort into thinking of how to fight you." Kankuro grumbled as Shikamaru's binds vanished along with all of the webbing used to trap him.

"Winner by forfeit, Kankuro of the Spirit Village." Hayate declared, waiting for the two to clear the floor before starting the selection process again. There was a seconds pause before something occurred to him.

"Man that has to suck, at least I got to fight; you didn't even get that chance, Fish." Kankuro snickered before getting whipsplashed across the face by a fuming Isaribi.

"This isn't fair! I wanted to fight too!"

* * *

AN: I must stress, I am NO GOOD at writing fighting scenes, and because I'm making this all up on the fly it might not make a whole lot of sense, but progress had to be made for progress' sake.

If anyone wants to, they can submit their own version of the above fights with something a bit more theatrical, as I am the first to admit, these fights are not at a great standard.

Additionally, I need ideas on what to do next, who should Isaribi fight, and how, and all that junk.

Once again, I apologize profusely for the poor chapter, it is the result of running out of creative steam that fuels my writing.


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